


A Bright Life

by Onesleepyboi



Series: A Bright Life [1]
Category: SCP - Containment Breach, SCP Foundation
Genre: Accused Cheating, Action, Adrenaline, Aftermath of Violence, Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - SCP Foundation, Alto Clef - Freeform, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Seduction, Betrayal, Bite Play, Blood Loss, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Bruises, Cancer, Character Death, Choking, Claiming Bites, Death, Domestic Fluff, Dr Clef, Dr. Bright has baggage, Dr. Bright is sad boy, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, False Accusations, Feelings Realization, Fights, Fist Fights, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, GOC (SCP Foundation), Gay, Gay Character, Gay Characters, Global Occult Coalition, Growing Old, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Hallucinations, Head Injury, Hiding Medical Issues, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Hypnotism, I swear there's good things too, I'm Bad At Tagging, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Internal Conflict, Jewelry, Love Bites, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Cancer, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Miscarriage, Opening Up, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partner Betrayal, Personal Growth, Pregnancy, Problems, Reader-Insert, Recovered Memories, References to Depression, References to other fanfictions, Repressed Memories, Rivalry, SCP-049 - Freeform, SCP-096 - Freeform, SCP-682 - Freeform, Sad, Science, Secrets, Seduction, Self Confidence Issues, Self Defence, Self-Denial, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Sexual Assault, Sexual Content, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Tension, Shooting Guns, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Tags Are Hard, Terminal Illnesses, Terrorism, Tragedy, Training, Unreturned Feelings, Violence, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, friend betrayal, just a little, reader is female, reader is strong headed, scp-963, secretly cares, serpents hand, slight clef/reader - Freeform, slight dr. clef/reader, slight dr. glass/reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:00:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 98,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onesleepyboi/pseuds/Onesleepyboi
Summary: Your parents were so proud when you graduated from college, they were happy that their absence didn't affect you too badly. Their support meant everything to you, but now they are gone. You don't have anyone anymore and now you're on trial for the violent brutal murder of your family. You didn't remember what happened that night, every time you tried to remember all that came was an intense migraine. In the trial you were convicted as guilty and was given the death penalty, the jury only took 30 minutes to decide. But you weren't taken to a normal jail instead, you find yourself in a terrible place that the other inmates call "The Foundation". Life became dark, watching people being taken and never coming back, presumed dead, and when they did come back they were catatonic. Everything was so dark that you felt relieved you got taken, time for the end (hopefully). Little did you know, it was just the beginning, and things were going to get bright, maybe too bright.Updated once to twice a month
Relationships: Dr. Bright/Reader, Jack Bright/Reader, slight Clef/Reader, slight Dr. Glass/reader - Relationship
Series: A Bright Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1963024
Comments: 187
Kudos: 210





	1. Chapter 1 pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! If you're just starting this fic, i would like you to know that it does get better. The writing is really bad at first but i promise it gets better. At the moment im updating this note i have posted chapter 20 which is 15,000 words and im really proud of it. So if its hard to read, push through some and maybe you'll find you enjoy it! If not, that's fine too! ^-^ have a great day/night

Life is… a continuous wave of chaos that no one can control by any means. It’s an absolute mess of a ride and you’re stuck on it, sometimes there are moments where everything is calm and going smoothly, but that’s just the calm before the storm. The mess had slowed to almost nothing for the whole 8+ years you went through for your doctorate and when the storm came, you were living in a straw house, unprepared for anything that was coming for you...

“Yeah, I’m really happy I finally graduated and even have a job opportunity already. Though I’m still waiting to hear back.” You were parked in the driveway at your parents' house, talking to your best friend on the phone. You’ve known her since 6th grade and even went to college with her. She had graduated 2 years before you, passing the bar exam and becoming a quick success as a local lawyer. She was ridiculously good at her job and she knew it. 

“I was wondering when you were gunna graduate,” she said in a teasing tone. “What’re you doing tonight? Want to go out to the bar and celebrate?”  
“No, I’m going to my parents' place for... something.”

“Oh… for what? You want me to come up? Maybe they’re throwing a party!”

“I doubt it, but anyway I’ve been sitting in front of the garage for a while and they’re probably worried by now… you know how they get, anyway-”

“Why are you avoiding the question? What’re you doing? I want to come if there’s a partayy!”

“Byyyyyee!” You hung up before she could say anything more, she always goes crazy for any inkling of a potential party. You laugh to yourself while getting out of the car, smoothing your dress when you stand. Taking a deep breath, you look at your house and smile. You haven’t seen your parents since Christmas and now it’s June; the grass is finally green, the birds are back, the rain… _Wait, rain?_ There’s a drip that hits your arm, then your head, and then everywhere. The rain started pouring heavily, soaking you almost instantly. You shut the door of your car hard and flinch at the sound. Glancing back, you run to the door and open in as fast as you can. You jump into the house and shut the door, leaning against it like some monster was chasing you. “Surprise!” Your parents shout as you turn the light on, nearly jumping out of your skin. You put your hand over your heart and mouth to stop yourself from screaming. “We’re so proud of you, honey, sorry we scared you so bad.”

“Christ, mom, you guys scared the shit out of me.” You let out a long exhale to calm your nerves and also to indicate annoyance. “I said to not throw me a party, I just wanted to relax for a while.”

“That’s what I said, but your mom insisted and I caved.”

“Pssh, you wanted to throw a small party as much as I did!” Your dad blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head, “see, the guilt is all over his face.” You gave a slight smile but suddenly realized it was only you three here. 

“Wait, where is everyone else?”

“Well, that was my idea. Your mother wanted to get everyone in the neighborhood to come to the house, so you’re welcome for stopping **that** mess!” He said it in a joking manner but you took it to heart and silently thanked him. “Oh, and aren’t you cold?” Hearing that made you suddenly aware of your clothes being soaking wet and being cold as all hell.

You started heading to the stairs “Shit, I’m going upstairs to take a shower and change. Is that ok? I don’t want to make you guys wait until the food is cold…”

“That’s okay, J███ hasn’t even started the grill.” Your mom shot him a look, you laugh and continue going upstairs. Your mom hardly calls him by name unless he’s in trouble, and not starting the grill was considered in trouble.  
**  
Opening the door to your room, you were hit with a wave of calm wash over you. You closed the door behind you and began getting undressed. The dress was completely soaked and still dripping from the sudden down-pour that had happened. It was a black polyester dress with white see-through bubble sleeves and a white see-through collar (look up “short cute little black dress with baby collar). _God damn it, I liked this dress…_ While undressing you had to peel the dress off your body, which, to be honest, feels uncomfortable. _Is this what an orange feels like?_ You’re about to throw the dress onto the bed before stopping yourself and throw it onto the desk chair. You begin mumbling to yourself, “ah yeah, just throw it on the bed. Let the wetness soak into the bed and then have to sleep in it. You’re so smart, Miss Doctorate.” You step into the shower and close the curtains, absentmindedly going about the ol’ shower routine until you turn the water and get blasted in the face with freezing water. “Ahhh! FUck! Cold! Cold cold cold!” You pull the lever to make the water come out of the faucet rather than the showerhead, “who in the hell would leave the showerhead on? Are they fucking stupid?”

“Honey, are you ok?” You hear your mom ask outside the door, sounding concerned about your freak out.

“Ye-Yeah, someone just left the showerhead on and I got a face full of cold water.”

“You do remember that this is your personal bathroom, right?” You hear the smile in her voice, she must have heard you yelling about ‘being fucking stupid’. You slapped your hand over your eyes and dragged your hand down your face, getting rid of the cold water still left while also feeling dumb. “Oh.. yeah… You’re right…” You heard your moms’ genuine laugh as she walked away, her laugh was a sound you missed. She hardly genuinely laughs anymore after what happened to the family dog we had until just a couple of years ago. Now that you think about it, how old was the dog? She said she had the dog since she was 32 and before you were even born and when he died that would’ve made him 36… _How the hell did he live that long? What even was he?_ You don’t remember his breed, but you remember that he creeped your friends out so badly they didn’t want to come over. _Was he even-?_ KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
Your thoughts were interrupted by the knocking at the front door. It was hard and loud that it was shaking the house and you could hear it from your bedroom. You consider, for a moment, to go check out what the fuss was but you decide to shrug it off and ask your parents about it later when you’re eating with them.

**\------**

J███ started up the grill, which was on a closed-off covered patio so he was able to keep dry and make a mean steak on the said grill. After he lit up the grill he went inside to grab the already seasoned steak that’s been marinating since yesterday. Just seeing the steak made his stomach growl, and loudly at that. So loudly that S██ turned to him while cutting veggies to raise an eyebrow at him. “Well someone sounds hungry.” He gave her a sly smile and started putting the steaks on the plate he was holding. “Oh shut up, go cook!” He laughed and began to leave to the patio when they heard the loud clattering and yelling from upstairs. They looked up and then looked at each other, both pale in the face. “I’m going to go check on her. You just cook, ok?”  
J███ nodded hesitantly and walked out slowly watching his wife go up the stairs. _Please don’t be anything serious_ , he mumbled to himself. He opened the lid to the grill, the heat blasting him in the face causing him to cough a bit. He put the steaks evenly on the grill and smiled at his work even though it was nothing. He hadn’t felt motivated lately because of the loss of Dian last year in May. Now it was like walking on eggshells around his daughter.

Walking into the house he heard it, a beautiful sound he hadn’t heard for a year, his wife’s laughter, her real laughter. He was so surprised he almost dropped his plate, his heart leaped into his throat and tears built up in his eyes. He set the plate down and wiped his eyes. He hadn’t realized how much he missed hearing her laugh and how long it had really been. What happened to you and what they had to do to you after it, it broke their hearts, shattered her mother's heart. And even after losing a whole year of your life, you still trudged forward and graduated, and they were proud. Beyond proud because you graduated with higher honors than you did the year before.

J███ heard S██ walking down the stairs, he immediately went to cut the veggies to look like he was being productive and not just crying in the middle of the kitchen. He glanced up and saw her holding your wet dress, “I’m going to go put this in the dryer with some other clothes and fold the clean clothes we have.” She tapped the cutting board, “and by the way, you don’t have to cut the potatoes up, just skin them and throw them in the pot of water. If you need help just ask, ok?” She put on her ‘talking to child’ voice and ruffled his hair. She snorted when he playfully pushed her arm away and then ruffled her hair. “Yeah, yeah, I know how to cook.” She walked away going _mmmm hmmm_ in a sarcastic tone.  
He turned back to the cutting board when he heard an incredibly loud, house rattling knock at the front door. _Maybe it’s them getting back to me finally, I’ve been waiting for a year and a half so it’s about damn time._ He walked to the door, wiping his hands on a cloth before opening the door.  
Standing in the door was a man who looked to be a postal worker, though he didn’t have any company symbol on him besides a strange pin on his chest. _I swear I’ve seen that before somewhere…_ He thinks. “Ah, yes, what can I do for you on this fine sunny day?” The guy looked confused at first as the rain was still pouring, but brightened up when he understood the joke.  
“Oh! Yeah, hahaha... Uh is there a,” he looks at the small boxes label, “Mister J███ and or Miss S██ Bailey here?”

“That would be me, I’m Mr. Bailey. What do ya got there for me?”  
“Well I’m not too sure, but could you sign this?”  
“Yeah, no problem.” He took the clipboard and signed it, then handed it back and got the box. If he had been paying attention he would’ve realized how odd it was that he was given a clipboard rather than a digital signature machine. The mailman left in a hurry; _gotta get out of the rain I suppose…_ A burning smell drifted towards his nose, causing him to scrunch his nose and silently freak out. _Oh, shit the steak!_ Bailey ran to the porch, setting the box down on the table as he went by.

**\-----**

The road was unbelievably bumpy, even though it was raining. The unmarked van drove down a back road, avoiding any place a human could be. “Why the fuck did they want me to help again? I have stupid and boring things to do on site-19.”  
“Sir, I mean.. Doctor Bright, the administration wanted you to be here,” the commander, Thomas Cook, leaned over, dropping to a whisper. “Just in case one or any of these D-Classes put up a fight and get everyone killed. Even if you die, they’d just bring you back and get a report on why the mission was a failure”  
“Yeah, yeah, body replaceable, immortality, blah blah blah. Why are we transferring SCP-096 again? And why are we using D-Class to help?” Bright said, maybe too loud.

“You didn’t listen to the brief at all, did you?”

“No, not really, just heard that we were transferring 096 to site 19.”

The Commander gave an exasperated sigh then eyed all the D-Class to see if they were paying attention but all of them had their eyes trained on 096, watching the bag over his head and listening to the human-like sobs with fear in their eyes. Bright remembered hearing the Commander saying the D-Class were told what 096 was and what it could do, just put a little fear in their hearts. Good move.

“Alright well… let’s say in layman's terms that there was a major containment breach, a lot of people died, including security. No one really knows what caused the Breach, but they think one of the radical groups did it. Someone managed to bag 096 before getting brutally killed by-”

“Thank you, Cook, I don’t need to hear anymore.” He strained out, the D-Class were starting to look around at each other like they were silently communicating. Thomas seemed taken aback for a second before picking up what the D-Class were doing.

“Ah, yes, you’re welcome, Doctor.”

“How far are we away from 19 right now? I wasn’t paying attention when we drove to the other site, I was playing Pokemon.”

Another long sigh came out, “About an hour and a half maybe a bit more.”

“Mmm… let’s hope the D-Classes don’t get antsy.” Bright looked at 096, the eerie sobs filling the empty spaces in the van. Bright suddenly remembers when his personality overwrote 096, along with many staff members, in the incident with SCP-4498. _That was a fucking wild ride that I never want to go back on again._ Bright looked up at the roof of the van, giving a long exaggerated bored sigh while slumping into his seat like the chair was eating him. Commander Cook gave him a look that would be described as a disappointed parent. _What the hell am I supposed to do in a van full of D-Class, an SCP, and two security personnel? There’s nothing to do._ He looked over each D-Class trying to guess what they were in for and if any of them were going to die tonight.

In the line was a very… meaty man, who you wouldn’t want to see in an alleyway because he’d probably use your liver in a protein shake. He looked as if he’d been working out since before he was born, causing him to look like he had microwaved marshmallows, while still being microwaved that is, all over his body. The man was staring hard at 096 like his life depended on it, which it did but he didn’t need to stare so hard.

“Hey you know if you take the bag off and start a staring contest it won’t kill you. ” Doctor Bright said cheerfully.

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, dude, give it a try!” Marshmallow reached for the bag but Cook slapped his hand away, then loudly said, “are you fucking stupid?” Then he looked at Bright, “and you!”

“And me?” He gave an innocent smile.

“You know you’re not allowed to do that, it’s written in the rules, number 274!”

“Damn, how do you know the exact number?”

“That’s… It’s classified information.”

“Ahhhh that sounds like bullshit, tell me.”

“No, end of the conversation,” Cook said sternly. Bright just decided to let it go… for now. Looking back at the marshmallow man, _yeah, that guy is definitely going to die before the sun rises,_ Bright thought to himself.

He started looking over other D-Class when something inside Bright shuddered and his stomach dropped. Something was wrong or going to be wrong, but he had no idea what. There was a large pothole they hit, causing everyone to fly up a bit and the van to slide all over. _Everything is fine, no need to worry… just a pothole,_ he thought… until he heard the buildup of static and screaming. Watching in horror as 096 started to move its arms away from his face. Its scream was getting louder and it reverberated in the small enclosed space, causing Bright to cover his ears and shut his eyes. What he saw before closing his eyes was 096 taking the bag off its head while standing up.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,_ **“everyone close your eyes. NOW!”** _Fuck, what the fuck is happening, how was he activated?! Whose dumb ass looked at it? What t-?_ He heard a sickening sound of meat and flesh being torn apart along with the continuous screaming before the vehicle lost control and crashed into the ditch hard enough to send everyone to the right side of the van. He was in a mess of bodies and didn’t know who was dead and who wasn’t. But Bright kept still while listening to 096 screams, trying his best not to open his eyes.

There was a lot of movement from 096 and groans from people he stepped on while looking for its exit. There were these sudden sharp sounds of metal being torn apart, clattering, and then the screams became distant. His head fuzzy, Bright slightly opened his eyes, only seeing the hole in the side of the van that 096 made to escape out into the outside world, to kill whoever saw its face.

The rain was pouring into the van from the hole it made, cold rain for it being Summer. That’s when he noticed it, the van was filling with water, the ditch they skidded into must have been deep and now the van was sinking into the muddy water. Bright attempted to sit up but his head throbbed, pain making it almost unbearable to move. Gotta get me a new body after this mess, he thought. Finally sitting up he began to wake everyone that was still alive, it seems the driver and a smaller D-Class were the only casualties.

Bright stood slowly, using the wall (which used to be the floor) to support himself. “...Radio… Radio site 19 to get a mobile task force out here, tell… tell them there is a containment breach… hhhuhhh,” his breathing was heavy and strained, he guessed a bruised lung, maybe a broken rib or two at worst. “We… we need to follow it… see where 096 goes… and get rid of whatever triggered it.” The Commander stared up at him in shock, maybe from what just happened or maybe the fact he, Dr. Jack Bright was being serious for once.

“Y...yes sir, er... Doctor… the van behind us, if they didn’t get hit by 096, should be mostly empty.” Cook sat up, blood coming from a gash wound on his forehead.

“Then let’s go. Move it, D-Class, we have to bag us an SCP.” He held up 096’s bag used to cover its face. He could feel the angry stares from the D-Class that were still conscious.

\-----

You stood in the shower for a long time, despite finishing up 10 minutes ago, before finally getting out. The cold tile floor welcomed your warm feet, causing you to fast tiptoe out and into your carpeted room. Closing the door behind you and turning on the lights you notice something black on your bed. “I thought I threw that at the bed, damn it now I have to sleep in-” Grabbing the dress you feel the warmth it’s emanating and smell the sweet honeysuckle smell your mom uses to clean clothes.

Letting out a quiet happy ‘hmm’, you lay the dress back on the bed and begin drying off. After drying off, you get dressed, slowly at first… the warmth of the shower and dress, making you sleepy, but then a smell hits your nose. It was sweet, maybe the original smell mixing with the honeysuckle. Your mouth began watering as you walked to your bedroom door, the scent was heavenly. A mix of grill smell, cheesy something, and the unmistakable smell of freshly grilled steaks made with love.

You get to the bottom step and peek out into the kitchen, seeing your mom and dad being sickeningly wholesome with each other while setting the table. You scrunch your nose up in false disgust then giggle to yourself. You hop off the last step, causing a loud thud to reverberate around the house and scaring the shit out of your parents. “Surprise! I got you guys back!” Your dad stayed silent for a couple of seconds, looking angry, until letting out a hearty laugh.

“Yup, you got us, but beware,” he squeezed the grill tongs at you twice, making a little clacking sound. “We’ll get you back twice over!”

“Alright, alright,” you say, holding your hands up in surrender. All of you laugh, genuinely laugh, a sweet moment to hold onto. The accident with Dian and the year in a coma melting away into the background like it never even happened.

You take your seat at the table, the smell of the food causing your stomach to rumble loudly. It all looked so good and the atmosphere with your parents felt good, everything was… perfect. I want this to last forever, the peacefulness of it all is better than what finals week had been. Letting a small, content sigh you began putting food on your plate. You hadn’t realized how hungry you were until you took the first bite of the homemade mash potatoes, mom’s ‘secret’ recipe.

“Thanks, guys… I… I’m really thankful you did this for me, it wasn’t necessary.”

“Nonsense, sweety, you graduated with honors, even with…” Your mom became silent like she was remembering what had happened. The air grew heavy making you shift in your chair. “Just know we’re proud of you,” your father interjects to break the silence before the air becomes any heavier.

“Very proud… Oh! Olivia called while you were taking a shower. She asked about a party, I swear that girl… she wanted to come up here but with permission. I told her to come up in the morning when we’re all rested."

“Which is smart,” your father said through chewing food. “She has way too much energy for being a lawyer and being almost 30.”

“Dear, chew with your mouth closed.” Your mom smacked his arm playfully, he only responded with a whine, sounding like a 5-year-old being lectured.

“Ugh… yeah, I guess that was smart. Sometimes you need a full night's rest to handle Oli and her energy,” you said, letting out an already exhausted sigh just thinking about hanging out with Olivia. You love her, of course, she’s your best friend, but god damn does she bounce off the walls. You’re lost in thought about what you’re going to do in the morning when you’re brought back by a hand on yours. You look up and see your mom smiling at you like she said something important and is passively aggressively saying ‘you’re not paying attention at all’.

“Oh, sorry, what did you say? I was thinking of a plan for tomorrow.”

“I said; don’t stress yourself out over Olivia coming over.’” She laughed gently and patted my hand.

“I’ll try not to… oh! Speaking of stress, dad have you heard back from the ' lab’ you and mom worked at?”

“Well, your mom and I got a package with no return address, so maybe it’s that. I’ll check before I give it to you, just in case it’s something else.”

“Ah… okay… you know, I would **_really_** like to know who-”

“We’ve told you before, sweety, we can’t tell you anything about who it is until you’ve been hired.”

“I just want to know things about the ‘lab’ before I even consider going for the job.”

“We can tell you when we know you’re hired and you accept the job.”

“So, basically, I have to accept a job I know _nothing_ about just to know what it’s about?” You started raising your voice unintentionally, but you were beginning to get frustrated. _Why am I frustrated? I knew what I was getting into when I asked dad about the job. I should just appreciate him doing this for me at all,_ you thought. You hadn’t realized you were crying until you looked into your dad's eyes and seeing the worry in them. “I’m… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t lash out at you guys.”

“No, no, it’s understandable, I would be frustrated too.” Your dad said in a forced calm tone while looking over to your mom and back to you. It was fast, but you thought you could see an intense fear in their eyes. You were about to ask why they gave that look when you felt an intense throbbing headache.

The pain was so intense that it caused you to stand so fast it made you light headed. The lightheadedness and the throbbing pain joined in an unholy union causing you to stumble back into the chair, knocking it over with a loud crash. You fall against the wall, which is the only thing preventing you from falling onto the floor. You cover your eyes trying to block the intense pulse of light flares behind your eyelids. You started to see a fuzzy image forming in your mind, it was Dian. It looked like he was running at you with his teeth bared and… were his eyes red?  
You’re snapped out of your vision when your parents touch each of your arms. You look up at them, they’re speaking but you can’t hear them over the intense ringing in your ears. The looks on their faces, though, you can read. They were cycling between absolute fear and complete worry.

You began rubbing your ears when your parents started bickering over something, frustration resonating in you, you wanted to know what they were saying. You started rubbing harder hoping it would help stop the ringing, but in all honesty, it just hurt. You felt a strong hand grab your arm, halting the intense rubbing and causing you to look up higher. You couldn’t see who it was, the ceiling light blocking out a clear look at their face. You heard the person say _“let me help you up”,_ well the voice sounded more like a faraway echo of a memory. As they helped you up, you saw a glint of something red on their chest. The glint grew brighter and brighter until it was too bright to handle.  
You covered your eyes again. “Ah! Please… stop…”, you said between sobs. You hadn’t even realized you were crying until you could hear yourself. You could feel a hand on your arm again but you pulled away, you didn’t want to be blinded again.

“Honey, hey! Can you hear us? Are you ok?”

“Wh..at? Dad…? Mom?”

“Yes! Oh, thank god… are you ok?"

“I-I think so… I thought I saw someone and I saw Dian, I think? I don’t remember…” They exchanged a look you couldn’t figure out at the time, maybe it was a fear mixed with confirmation? You couldn’t quite tell, you still had a headache and it was interfering with everything around you. You felt as though you couldn’t see the table but you could, maybe it was more of _‘I can see it, but I don't know what it's called or if it’s real’_ feeling.

“Sweety, maybe you should go and rest. We’ll clear the table so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“But-”

“No, go and rest,” your dad interrupts you in a very stern tone, which makes your hair stand a little. He has only used that voice a couple of times before, but only during dire, deadly, or serious events. You opened your mouth to say something but thought better of it and just headed upstairs. You still felt light-headed but just used the wall for support. You look back at your parents before heading up, they were whispering to each other while cleaning. Your mom caught sight of you and gave a strained smile and a heart with her hands. You smiled back and went upstairs to get some rest. Maybe browse on your phone, browse WebMD and see if you’re dying or not.


	2. Chapter 1 pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!!! PLEASE READ!! TRIGGER WARNING!! !!!!  
> There is blood, self-harm, descriptions of violence, attempted rape, and gore
> 
> This is why I split chapter 1 up into 2 parts

After you went upstairs, J███ and S██ continued talking and stopped cleaning the table. They both sat down at the dinner table with an awkward silence hanging in the air. They started to talk at the same time, doing it multiple times before S██ spoke louder. “I hate living like this… with this constant guilt hanging over my head. But at the same time, we can’t tell her anything because she’ll just get upset, maybe even hate us. We… we should’ve just left it alone and helped her recov-.”

“She would’ve never recovered to a sense of normalcy, we did what we had to do and we can’t go back,” J███ said sternly and in a quiet yell. “We did all we could for her.”

“But did we? Really? We could’ve done more!”

“Like what?! We tried everything we could and in the end, we had to get help from the Director of Foundation Personnel.” There was a bit of venom in the last words he spoke. J███ didn’t like the man, but it was the last option they had. He let out a long exhale, trying to calm his nerves. Watching his daughter go through the pain of remembrance, such a rare side effect the Foundation doesn’t even bother mentioning it. Not to mention the idiot of a man gave them too high of a dose for the accident. It was like he wanted her to forget everything that happened in the year she worked under him. “You’re right… I’m sorry, I just wish we could’ve done more…” S██ said, breaking him away from his thoughts.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, it was his fault.” J███ replied immediately, “let’s take a quick break from cleaning up, the curiosity of the package we got is killing me. I put it in my study, let’s go take a look.” S██ nodded and stood up with him, then followed him to the study. He typed in a code to the door, a buzzing sound signaling the door is unlocked. They walked into the office and shut the door quietly, they didn’t know if you were asleep yet but didn’t want to take the risk of waking you.  
The study had warm lighting, enhancing the deep red of the floor rug. A single desk sits in the middle towards the back of the room. The desk was glossy mahogany wood and the chair was brown and red leather. Lining the walls were big dark wood bookcases filled to the brim with books from all over the world. The rug was worn into paths and the chair was cracked after 30+ years of use. On the desk was the small box sitting among a chaotic mess of papers.  
“Alright mystery box, show us what you got,” Bailey grabbed a letter opener and stabbed through the tape.

“It’s really light… so it couldn’t be something from the Foundation right?”

“I’m not sure, it could be… maybe the id they used for last year with a letter?”

“The Foundation wouldn’t do that, it’d be too risky of it being caught up.” Bailey continued cutting into the tape to open the box. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his wife shudder and shiver a bit so he stopped working on the box, a small sliver of tape holding it close. “Are you ok, dear?” Bailey asked.

“I just… got a weird feeling from the box. I don’t know, just ignore me, I’m sure it’s fine and I’m just overreacting.”

“...Okay… let’s uh let's check it out then.” Bailey turned back to the box, cutting the last bit of tape, making a little pop sound as the lid jumped up. S██ let out a shaky breath and nodded at him to open it. J███ opened the box and both of them looked in. On the bottom of the box was a taped picture of 096, his face to be exact. All they could do was stare until the realization hit them. J███ stood up fast and backed away from the box with S██. The color in their faces was gone and they began to shake.  
J███ closed the box and began writing a note, ‘do not open, destroy immediately, picture of 096’. He looked at his wife, she was shaking and crying, “I… but… why us? Why?” J███ hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head hoping to calm her at least a little bit. 

“I’m going upstairs, you need to radio the Foundation, tell them what happened and that 096 will be at our location.”

“We’re fucked. We’re so fucked.”

“Hey,” he lifted her chin to get her to look at him. “Please, contact the Foundation, I’m going upstairs to make sure our daughter stays in her room, ok?” She sobbed harder and nodded.  
He felt bad for leaving her in such a state, but they have very limited time before it gets here. Running up the stairs, two at a time, he finally gets to your door. He opened your door quickly, not bothering to knock. He felt bad but there wasn’t any time left to wait. “Dad, what the hell! You-”

“Honey, I don’t have much time left. So please, _please_ , listen to me very closely.”

“Wha- What do you mean?” Fear rose in your voice, you’ve never heard him speak like this; like the world was ending. He looked at you, his eyes holding a calm look but deep within there was fear, a feral kind of fear.

“Listen! Just… just listen… you’re mom and me, we love you very much and we’re beyond proud of you, know that.”

“Why are you talking like this? What’s going on?”

“I want you to do as I say, ok? Can you, will you, do that for me?”

“Y...yes, but-” your dad shook his head and hushed you.

“When I leave this room, lock the door. Do not come out for any reason until morning or until some people come to help you. There is a man, his name is Doctor Bright, give him this,” he took a pen from his pocket and wrote a code down on a sticky note. He handed it over to you and you read it. ‘Code: 173049001, Office’, you looked up to him wide-eyed, _why would he give this to me? And who the hell is Doctor Bright?_ A headache hit you when you thought about who the doctor was, but before you could think any longer your dad interrupted your thoughts.

“If you need to, hide under your bed. Don’t call anyone for this, not even the police, we called someone already. Don’t go into the office either, ok?”

“O-okay… but what’s going on?” There was a loud crash of thunder and you could swear you heard screaming. You looked behind yourself towards the window, the screaming was getting louder. Your dad grabbed your face and made you look into them, the sorrow and fear in them almost making you cry. He kissed your forehead and mouthed ‘I love you’ then immediately turned and went to the door. He stopped, took one last look at you, and left.

\------------

Jumping up from your bed, you ran to the door. You saw his head disappear as he descended the stairs. Your mind began to race with questions. Was he being serious? Is this him getting back at you? But, then why would he give you the office password? Is there an intruder? Just as you thought that there was a loud thump at the front door. You hadn’t realized how close the screaming was, it was so loud now.  
You shut your door and locked it, then you covered your ears. The screaming was so loud it rattled your ears. A new sound joined in; a loud crash, like the sound of a wooden door being broken down. Oh my god, this is really happening. You felt a strong urge to throw open the door and go help your parents until you heard your mom scream.  
Her scream is something you’ll never forget. It was blood-curdling, bone-chilling, and downright horrifying. The hairs on your body stood on end and your stomach dropped. Your mom's scream was cut out by the sound of tearing flesh and meat with a mix of bones being broken. You felt like you were going to throw up so you fell to your knees and stared, dead-eyed at the floor. _She’s gone… she’s really gone… mom… this isn’t real, this isn’t real._  
Following up the sounds of your dead mother were gunshots. Was he shooting them? Why aren’t they stopping? The gunshots stopped, followed by your dad screaming. The sounds of his death shook you to your very core. It sounded much more violent than your moms’ death and it went on way longer than necessary. The wet smacks and crunches made you slowly lose touch with where you were and who you were. _Am I even real? Was this real? This is just a dream, right? I just need to wake up. I just needed to wake up, right now. Right now! Wake up!_  
You sat back onto your knees and started scratching at your arms and your neck, leaving red marks all over yourself. Scratching turned into clawing at your skin, “why won’t I wake up? Please please please.” The queasiness in you started to intensify, your heartbeat thumped in your ears, and your breathing started to build up into a gasp. The bottom of your right arm and bottom of your left arm began to bleed. Your breathing fell into a death gasp, causing you to think you were dying. The thought made you happy for some reason. _Maybe if I die, I’ll finally wake up…_  
It felt like you were in a timeless void, the color of the carpet swallowing your mind. Your very soul floating in the empty color of white, you had nobody. Were you even breathing anymore? Where was your body? A shudder ran through you as if to check that you indeed had a body. Once you did so, though, you became acutely aware of the pain in your arms and legs.  
You looked up, seeing where you were in the room. You were next to your bed somehow, you guessed you dragged yourself over to it at one point. You turn around and sit with your back against the bed, you eye the carpet up to the door. Blood was everywhere and seeing it reminded you of your arms and legs. You looked down at your arms, they were still bleeding and they still hurt.  
You tried standing up but you lost too much blood and pushing yourself up caused you to bleed more. “Fuck,” you mumbled to yourself. You opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out some tissues. “I guess this is all I have… goddamn it… only 4 left… I’ll make do. Alright, time to put that Doctorate to use.” Folding the tissues up you lay two of them on your left arm and pat at it gently. Blood soaked in quickly, a little quicker than you hoped. You’re bleeding more than you expected. You do the same on the right arm with the same results. You lean your head back and let out a loud sigh. What even happened?  
Everything flashed before you, reminding you of what happened. You began to shake again and your mind tingled. You almost fell back into the void when you heard loud shouting. You looked up and away from your arms to the door. There were a lot of voices, but there was one in particular that caught your attention. It sounded familiar for some reason, a feeling in your heart you couldn’t identify, and a buzzing in your head.  
Before you could think about it too hard; your door is busted open. You look back up in surprise and immediately assume you’re about to die. The thought was reinforced when you saw a giant dude with a gun walk in. He was in an orange jumpsuit, like a prisoner in jail. On his neck was a big metal choker with a light blinking on it (a shock collar?), and he wore a gas mask. He looked at the ground and followed your blood trail to you. He takes his gas mask off and smiles at you, but it wasn’t a good smile. A shot of adrenaline went through your body, causing a chill to run up your spine. _I don’t like this… I don’t like this one bit,_ you thought.  
He started to walk to you, causing you to scramble under the bed but you barely got under when he grabbed your ankles. He dragged you out, causing your open wounds to scrape against the carpet, then he covered your mouth which muffled your screams of pain. “Well, well, what do we have here?” He said in a whisper. He leaned into your ear, “just be quiet, be compliant, and it’ll be over quickly.” Your blood ran cold, _is he saying what I think he’s saying?_ The numb feeling you felt before begins to set in again, _why is this happening to me? Where are my parents? Where are the police?_ You shook and screamed internally for someone to help, but no one was coming.  
The man began removing your shirt, he more or less tore it off you though. He threw you onto the bed, an evil smile forming on his scarred face. He forcefully removed your pajama pants then pulled you towards him. Tears formed in your eyes then rolled down your face, the man only laughed at this. He leaned in close to your face, “god damn I missed seeing this.” Disgust filled your brain and then your very being as he licked your face, tasting your tears.  
He chuckled at your reaction, your anger was a joke to him, _you_ were a joke to him. He grabbed your hips, pulling you closer to his crotch. A very obvious bump pushed against you, separated by 3 bits of fabric, assuming he’s wearing boxers at all. You began to struggle, trying to get away from him, you didn’t want this. He laughed again at you, squeezing your hips way too tightly, leaving bruises to be found later. Wincing, you pushed at his chest while also trying to get your leg around to push against him or kick him in the dick.  
You felt a hand on your wrist causing pain to shoot through your arm, a hand covered your mouth as you cried out. “Listen, you little bitch, I’m doing this no matter what you do. Now lay there and take it.” You began to cry silently as he reached down and unzipped his jumpsuit. He looked down then looked back at you with a smirk, this was happening. This isn’t a dream, there’s no escape, and no one was here to help you.  
You squeezed your eyes shut, waiting for it to happen, “This is your fau-.” There was a shout from behind him which made your eyes snap open to see who it was. Another person joining this brute or was it someone here to stop him?

“Hey, you fucking dumb ass!”

“Wha?! I-I uh…”

“Mind explaining what you’re doing with your pants down, _marshmallow?_ ”

“I, uh, I was just… um…” You see the other person in the room, you don’t know how to describe him besides seeing the red amulet. He looked down on the ground and followed the blood trail, just as this brute ‘marshmallow’ did. His eyes met yours and there was a long silence as his eyes widened, as if he recognized you. You felt you knew him but you didn't know how you did, it only brought a headache to think about. His eyes went from shock, recognition, back to shock, and then to full-blown rage.

“What the _**FUCK**_ are you doing?!”

“I was just… I found,” the man nicknamed ‘marshmallow’ pulled his jumpsuit back up and zipped it. ‘Marshmallow’ stepped away from you, revealing more of what condition you are in which only seems to anger the other man more. “I found this lady and…”

“And what?! You decide to sexually assault her?!”

“I just… I wanted some-”

“No! No, no, no, and no! You have no right to do that to her! In fact, you don’t have any rights if I recall correctly.”

“Why are you so angry, do you know her or-” BANG! ‘Marshmallow’ crumpled to the ground before you realized what happened. The mystery man stood in your room holding a gun, which he must’ve pulled out pretty quickly because you didn’t even see it until it happened. He lowered the gun and stared at the body on the ground, his eyes full of malice, hatred, and anger.  
You felt rude for staring but you didn’t know what to or what to say, you were still too shaken up and scared anyway. He holstered his gun and let out a long sigh, a slight shake in his breath while running his fingers through his hair. You faintly heard him say ‘disgusting piece of trash’ to the body, then he looked at you. He looked at you with such intensity that it made you jump, your brain was screaming to run but you had no energy left. The blood loss from your wounds was taking their toll.  
The man took a step towards you but someone else came into the room. The other man, who was dressed in swat or military-type gear, looked at me, to the body, and then to the guy. “What the hell is going on? Did you kill him, Bright?” He sounded slightly annoyed but had an edge of fear in his tone.

“Yes, I did, there wasn’t any other option.”  
“Really? Are you sure about that?” He looked back to the body and then to you, his eyes also widened with a hint of shock, “wait, Dr. Bright, is that-”

“Yes, now shut up and go. Get 096 contained and clean up a bit. Also, we’re changing the story here. Make it set up to look like she did it.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Bright?”

“Yes, just make sure there's no evidence we were here. Check the neighbors to make sure they didn’t hear or see anything and if they did, amnesticize them. You know what? Amnesticize them anyway just in case. I’ll be doing that to her.” He nodded towards you, which put fear in your heart. What is he going to do to me? Oh god, please don’t do what the other man was doing…  
Bright shooed away the other man and started towards you. It looked like he was trying to keep a neutral face but there was obvious worry in his eyes. He sat next to you causing you to flinch away from him. He seemed slightly offended by you flinching at him but shook his head slightly and gently grabbed your hand.

“My God, what did you do to yourself?” He was looking at your arms and legs, you were still bleeding some and now the tissue you used is scraped up and mixed into the scab forming. He stood back up, went to your bathroom, and started digging through everything. After a while, he came back with a first aid kit then sat next to you again. 

“Are you okay?” Dr. Bright asked idly as he worked on your arms. It hurt too much to do it yourself so I guess you were thankful. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to. I… I’m sorry about your parents.” Him saying that gave you confirmation that they were dead which caused tears to fill your eyes. You cried quietly and he let you cry it out, he didn’t interrupt or try to make false promises and fake reassurance. He just cleaned your wounds and he was very gentle about it like you were fragile dishware and he was polishing it up.  
After a long silence, and him finishing up your right arm, you felt confident enough to speak up. Though, you felt like you had to use a lot of energy just to get words out. “You… You’re Doctor Bright?” He paused for a moment, his hand shook for a second, then he continued cleaning.

“...yes, I am. Why?”

“My… My dad said to give this to you.” You started going to grab your pajama pants, the note sitting in your right pocket, but Bright stopped you from moving.

“I’ll grab it, where is this thing? Here?” He grabbed your pajama pants, you nod. “Left or right?” You tell him right and he reaches into the pocket, pulling up the crumpled sticky note. He looks over it and frowns then pockets it. “Thank you, now hold still.” He continued cleaning. It took longer than what was necessary, but you feel that was on purpose. “All done, just be careful, ok?”

“Ok… what uh… what happened to them?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Bright said looking over to you, but this time it was like he was actually seeing you. His face turned bright red then he stood quickly. “Lay down and rest, in the morning this body won’t be here. Also, here,” he handed you a pill then went to the bathroom and filled it with water. “Take this, it’ll… it’ll help you rest.”  
You were too tired to ask any questions, so you took the pill without protest. Bright helped you lie down so you wouldn’t start bleeding again. You felt your eyelid become heavy, you hadn’t realized how tired you were. Before you fell into the sleepy void you looked over at Bright, confusion coming to your foggy mind. _Who is that?_

You woke up with a start, _what a wild fucking dream_. You looked over at your phone, it was 10 am, which was weird… Your mom should’ve woken you up at 9 am. You get out of bed, wincing, the pain in your arms reminding you of something you couldn’t remember. You stare at your arms for a little bit, confused as to how this happened. Shaking your head you get dressed and start heading downstairs.  
The heavy smell of iron punched your senses. You ran downstairs feeling some sort of feral fear in your core. You immediately stop in your tracks on the last step. Blood. Blood was everywhere. The counter, the floor, the stairs, all of it was bloody. Your parents were on the floor, arms detached from their bodies, necks broken, bodies cut up and torn.  
You take the last step down, your legs shaking with every step you take. You walk up to your dad's corpse and fall to your knees and tears forming in your eyes. You start absently scratching your scabs, causing you to bleed again. You looked around and saw your mom’s body, less battered than your dad but she was still… dead. You look back at your dad’s corpse, a knife sitting next to him with blood on it. Stopping your idle scratching, you reach out and pick up the knife, your blood from your hands getting on the handle.  
Seeing yourself in the reflection of the knife, you drop it onto the ground. The clattering echoing in the dead-house. Your hands are shaking as you pick up your dads’ head, barely attached to his body. You move his hair and start touching his face, your blood getting on him. “D...Dad… please wake up… Please.” Nothing “You got me back, so you can wake up now…” Your voice shaking with every word, tears filling your eyes to the point you can’t see. “Dad, please wake up… I don’t like this joke… mom?” You call out to her corpse, “please wake up and tell dad to stop joking around… please…”  
You hear talking and then a clatter, a hope filling you that it could be your real parents and these were just props. You blinked away the tears and wiped your eyes so you could see. You looked up to the doorway and saw Olivia standing there in complete shock. She’s looking at you, the knife, then your parents. Her eyes linger on them a bit longer until she looks at you, her voice shaking with a mix of fear and something you’ve never heard before.

“Oh my god… _What did you do?_


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! Sorry about the radio silence, finals week took a lot out of me and I had a spout of no motivation for anything. BUT, I'm back, making chapters will be a bit slow, I hope to do weekly updates but ya know, life stuff happens. Alright, this chapter is a bit short!

“Oh my god… What did you _do_?” Olivia said quietly. All you could do was stare up at her, your father's head still in your hands and tears beginning to well in your eyes. You look away and back to your father, _they are gone… aren’t they?_ “Where are they? This is a joke, right?” You vacantly asked.

“What the **_fuck_** are you on about?! What did you do to them?!”

“This is all a joke, that’s all… they’ll come back and say ‘surprise, we got you’. Everything is fine…”

“Oh my fucking god, I’m calling the police.” Olivia picked her phone up and dialed 911, as she began to speak a rush of adrenaline went through you bringing a deep numbness that seemed almost familiar. Her voice began to fade into the background while high pitched ringing took over your mind. You hadn’t even realized you screamed ‘no’, causing Olivia to run outside.

\-----2 months later-----

You were alone in a single cell, it wasn’t solitary but it damn well felt like it. There was an empty cell to your left and right; a space put in to keep the other prisoners safe. You ate alone, you slept alone, you were alone. The therapist was there for you but you could see the fear in their eyes while they spoke to you. All the other prisoners avoided you out of fear after hearing what you “did” to your parents. At this time, you’re the only one there for double murder. Well, murder in general. Everyone else was there for petty crimes like shoplifting, possession of weed, etc. so there was a consensus of avoidance.  
In court, all you felt you could do was sit in silence, not making any eye contact with anyone. Even there you felt alone, your friend had become your prosecutor and your lawyer hardly did anything to defend you. Looking at the jury there was nothing but looks of judgement, though, you guess, it’s what they’re here for…  
Actually, you hadn’t even noticed that you were in the courtroom already. You guessed you dissociated while they were taking you out of your cell. Looking around you saw that everyone was sitting still, staring blankly at nothing. Everyone was doing it; the judge, jury, your lawyer, Olivia, and the crowd of people. It was like time wasn’t moving or the world just broke. You stood up, there was no movement from the police to restrain you or reaction from anyone.  
You felt your heart beating fast in your chest and panic rise in your throat. It felt just like… something… you can’t quite recall. Your parents suddenly appeared at the witness stand, both mangled and almost unrecognizable. They leaned into the mic in front of them and opened their mouths, only screams came out. Your head began to pound, the lights in the courtroom growing brighter and brighter. You began to shake, their screams reaching down into your very soul and trying to rip it from your body. Everyone in the room turned towards you, empty eyes locking onto you as you cover your ears. They open their mouths and join in the screaming, though their screams sound the exact same; a high pitched static-y scream. It sounded so familiar but something in you resisted the memory.  
The screaming was so loud, the lights were too bright, the pain in your head and soul was too much but you still tried going towards your parents. The three distinct screams started to join together in a horrid chorus like it was trying to remind you of something. Each step towards your parents felt like weights being attached to your legs and your eyes began to sting. You were about halfway there when you saw blood splatter, your eyes widen as you see your mom’s arm fly off her body. You cover your mouth, feeling the wetness on your cheeks. Tears flowed down your face as you watched body parts fly off your parents, their screams getting quieter. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… _please…_ ” you sobbed out.  
Your dad begins to fall forward and gurgles out, “it’s…… not…… your faaauult…” His head fell from his neck, over the table of the testimony chair, and fell off only hanging by a thread. It felt like it was going in slow motion while watching this happen. As you were watching, a high pitched ringing began to overcome your hearing and your vision began to blacken. Suddenly you saw a man dead on the floor of your bedroom and another man with a blurry face and red pendant holding a gun. It hurt your brain seeing the images, the pressure in your skull was overwhelming like a watermelon with rubber bands wrapped around it, about to blow. 

You sat up screaming, holding your head. You heard someone yell at you to ‘ _shut the fuck up_ ’ as you heard fast footsteps approach your cell. You look over to the door and see a guard standing there, their face was hard to see in the dark but you could swear you saw the slightest hint of concern. Maybe it wasn’t the ‘I care about you’ concern, but it was still some sort of concern… the nicest thing you’ve seen in months. You took a deep breath, trying to slow and quiet your breathing. “I… I’m sorry.”

“What’s your problem? You sick or something?”  
The voice was familiar, it sounded like the guard that takes you to places you need to go make sure you behave. It was a connection you felt was important to you and that they were, in a sense, a friend. “Or something… I had a really bad dream…”

“Well, it’s the middle of the night, keep it quiet.” They started to walk away.

“Wait, please… I really just… need someone to be here right now.”

“I’m not going to hold your hand or read you a bedtime story until you fall asleep. Just go to sle-" 

“ ** _Please!_** ” You yelled in a whisper as you practically fell out of bed, trying to get to the cell door. “Please… will you just listen to my dream or something?” Your voice was shaking as tears formed in your eyes. The police officer had their hand on their hip, right where the taser was, and was watching you very carefully. They looked into your eyes and must’ve seen something in them because they lowered their hand down and gave a resigned sigh. You reached over to the notebook you have and began writing your dream down. After you finished you folded the paper up and slid it between the bars slowly, trying not to scare the officer with any quick movements. The paper fell on the ground, you scooted away from the door to give space to the officer as they picked it up.  
They opened the letter and began to read, frowning at the end. They took out their own pen from their breast pocket and wrote something down then slid it into your cell. You picked up the paper and opened it to read, ‘ _weird dream, I can understand why you were screaming. Do you feel guilt for what you did to your parents? What do you think the last things in your dream mean?_ ’ You frowned, you still didn’t know if you did kill your parents or not, it was hard to say since your memory is gone. You wrote down a response and slid it back to the officer. You and them talked through paper until you passed out from exhaustion. Your dreams were nothing but a void of darkness with an occasional glimpse of an amulet with a red gem center.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave myself a deadline for Friday but wasn't able to, but here it is now! Also, I noticed the last update was put as "April 25th" but I think I accidentally changed the month... and maybe the day? I swore I posted it last week or something....... anyhoo, please enjoy and tell me what you think!

You woke up early in the morning out of habit and found yourself in your bed. _Must’ve got up at some point_ , you thought. Getting out of bed, you stretched out and looked up, only to be scared by the guard standing at your cell. “Oh fuck! Oh… uh hi…” you said.

“Morning, put your hand on the wall-”

“Yeah, I know I know…” You put your hands on the wall and then pushed up against the wall. The guard seemed slightly annoyed at you interrupting them, but opened the cell and walked up to you. They grabbed your right wrist and put a cuff on than did the same with your left arm. You stayed still as more guards came in to help as the main one cuffed your ankles, a long chain between them to allow you to walk at a slow pace. You caught the guard's name tag in your vision, ‘Cook’, which sounded familiar. She hooked a chain to your arm cuffs down to your legs and hooked it to the chain there. She pulled you back then pushed you towards the door lightly.  
Walking with this thing was always hard no matter how many times you’ve done it, especially when being pushed forward. The other two guards walked on either side of you as Cook walked behind you with her hand on your back. Other prisoners watched as you were taken to go to the courthouse. 

After being taken out of the police van you were guided to the courtroom to continue your trial. As you approached the door, you felt familiar anxiety boil up into your throat. You felt it every time you got closer to the door where your fate lies, but for some reason today it felt even worse. The urge to vomit made you stumble forwards and slightly blackout. As you stumbled, you felt Officer Cook grab your prison jumper to keep you from falling and hurting yourself. A small gesture, which probably meant nothing, but it still meant something to you. Walking just a bit further you stood at the looming door of fate, frozen in place.  
“Come one, really, every time? Just go,” the officer on your right said, the left one mumbling in agreement. You couldn’t see it, but you could feel Officer Cook give them a quick glare which shut them up.  
“Red, you need to go in. Don’t prolong this, it’ll only make it worse.” She said gently yet sternly, like a mother scolding their child. ' _Red_ ' was her nickname for you, she didn’t want to bother knowing your real name and _’get too attached’_ as she put it. You never heard her use it in front of other officers, so hearing her say it brought small comfort to you. Though the nickname was a bit dehumanizing, only calling you by the color of your jumpsuit…  
You took a deep breath as the officer on your right opened the door, walking through first followed by the left. Cook pushed you slightly to get you to move and as you walked in you made eye contact with Olivia. Now you remembered why your anxiety was so bad, not only because of your dream but because... today… was your sentencing…  
You looked away first, not wanting to make Olivia even more uncomfortable than she is now. You tried talking to her so many times, trying to tell her you didn’t kill them and you didn’t remember what happened, but you saying that you don’t remember just convinced her more than it was your fault. She eventually got sick of you talking to her and got the judge to declare you are not to speak to her unless spoken to. Seeing her… no, feeling her hatred for you hurts you on a mental and emotional level. But her hatred, you thought, was justified. Your parents were basically her parents. Her actual parents abused and neglected her, so much so that she practically lived with you to keep away from them. The law had failed her when she needed to be saved from her parents and you guessed that’s why she became a lawyer, to help those in need and to convict those that are guilty… which happened to be you in her mind.  
You were brought over to the defense table and sat near your lawyer, who yawned and lazily grabbed his briefcase. He popped it open, the papers inside were unorganized and had stains on them. You let out a long sigh and look forward, you felt no hope you would escape your worst fear.  
Just before the judge came in your lawyer stood up suddenly after getting a message on his phone. He walked out of the courtroom, leaving you alone and the center of attention. You could feel everybody's eyes on you, analyzing even the slightest movement you make… even analyzing your lack of movement. You took a shaky breath as your lawyer finally came back, taking a seat next to you just to stand again when the bailiff announced the judge.  
Judge Whyte is a stern, no-nonsense, serious person, and from what you heard; ruthless. He was also really tall, towering over anyone around him. He walked in and made eye contact with you then continued walking to his chair. You flinched when your eyes met his, they were terrifying. There’s nothing in them but anger and hatred. When you first met the judge you had heard he was kind and listened to people, but he wasn’t like that at all. Maybe the kindness he showed was just a mask… or the hatred was.  
A deep voice came over the speakers, “you may be seated.” After everyone sat the judge cleared his throat and spoke again, “now, today is the day we are determining your sentence.” He gestures to you, “are you aware of that?” You open your mouth to speak, but your lawyer cuts you off. “Yes, we are aware, Judge Whyte.” He never lets you speak.  
“Good, now, if Olivia would care to recap everything to the jury so they can make an informed decision?”

“Of course, **_your honor_**.” She said, every word containing venom. She began to recap what was needed, going over what little evidence she had, and once she was finished, she took her seat with a huff. Judge Whyte looked to your lawyer, “anything you want to say?”

“No, sir. Nothing to **add**.” He saw you opening your mouth and sternly said ‘add’, trying to shut you up. You looked down at the table then to your scarred wrists, _nothing I say will make difference_. The jury left to decide your fate, you thought it would take a long time… an hour? Maybe two? But it was only 30 minutes.  
The ‘leader’ of the jury handed a paper to the bailiff who gave it to the judge. There was a pause, the silence felt as if it went on for hours, but it was probably only 10 seconds before the judge looked up. Judge Whyte cleared his throat and began, “the court jury has reached a unanimous decision. The jury has seen the evidence and heard the testimonies and have decided,” he paused, a lump forming in your throat. “We the court declare you guilty of the murders of J███ and S██ Bailey. You are sentenced to two lifetimes in prison without the opportunity of parole, along with the death penalty.  
Everything felt like it was shattering around you, and the familiar dissociative feeling started to set in. You looked over at Olivia with tears in your eyes, she was smiling and receiving congrats from the viewers in the chairs. You began to shake, _does she really hate me that much_? You thought you felt a hand on your back but you were too busy looking at Olivia and then your lawyer. He was frowning but his eyes betrayed him, his eyes smiled, laughed even. He might as well have had a shit-eating grin on his face. You felt so many emotions boiling inside you, too many to handle. You felt the string holding you together snap.  
You turned to your lawyer, “Hey, look at me.” He turned his head, about to say ‘what’, but you decked him in the face before he could say anything. He fell out of his chair, nose bleeding with a surprised look on his face. You felt Officer Cook restrain you, though she didn't need to because you broke down crying. “I didn’t do anything! I didn’t kill them! They’re my parents, I love them!” Everyone looked afraid, except Olivia. “Please Olivia, please… I didn’t kill them!”

“Don’t speak to me. Ever.” She glared at you, genuine hatred radiating off of her. You were hyperventilating now, an anxiety attack forming as more time goes by. Olivia faltered a little but picked herself back up and double-downed. “Olivi-”

“Listen to me, you disgusting piece of shit. You took them away from us. You’re absolutely repulsive. I hate you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how the trial was kind of "not realistic" but I couldn't find a transcript to base off what it would be like. I have an explanation about it later in the story though! Thanks for reading and thanks for all the kudos, it really encourages me to continue! Also thanks to the people who have this bookmarked, it made me really really happy that you enjoy the story that much!  
> The next chapter should be out between the 4th and the 6th!


	5. Chapter 4

The only thing you could feel was the hand on your back as you were taken to solitary for punching your lawyer and causing a scene. Officer Cook was the one taking you there, the two other officers following after her to make sure you don’t hurt her. You were too exhausted to put up a fight though, besides, you wouldn’t dream of hurting Officer Cook. In a sense, she was all you had even if it was one-sided.  
You were brought out of the numbness when you felt a man's hand on your back replace Officer Cook's hand. You jumped at the feeling causing the officer to grab your shoulder roughly. “Hold fucking still,” the officer said in a gruff tone. You glanced at him, keeping quiet out of the growing fear inside you. You didn’t know why you felt so afraid of men, just 3 months ago you were fine… but after the… the incident with your parents you felt fear being alone with men.  
Your fear subsided when Cook came into view, unlocking the solitary cell. Her face held a conflicted and confused expression, which raised curiosity in you. The guy pushed you forward into the cell, causing you to stumble and fall against the wall, you still had the cuffs and chains on you so you didn’t have any way to keep balance. You heard Cook make an annoyed sound directed towards the man as she walked in. She unhooked the chains and took the cuffs off, the men officers watching you closely. You put your hands up as soon as you could and then stared blankly at the empty white wall.  
After Cook was finished, she started to leave but paused for a second before shaking her head and walking out. The male officer holding the door let it slam shut causing you to flinch at the loudness of it. There was a loud ‘clack’ sound as he locked it, signaling you’re free to move from the wall. Looking around the small white room the bed was against, and attached, to the back wall. There was a small sink on the left wall with a small metal toilet next to it.  
You walked to the bed and sighed, part of you was proud of breaking that shit lawyer's nose but the other part was ashamed of the breakdown. You started to berate yourself as you zoned out looking at the bed, _you idiot, what did you think would happen? That Olivia would forgive you? The jury to change their mind? It’s too late for that… Olivia hates your guts and the decision was already made. You are alone, you have no one, and your life is on a clock now…_ You felt tears forming in your eyes and rolling down your face, _I wish it was now, I wish they’d just kill me now, or maybe I shou-_ , your thoughts were cut off by the sound of the metal slot on the door opening.  
You turned around and saw Officer Cook looking at you through the slot. You wiped your tears away, not wanting her to see how pathetic you felt, she pursed her lips then slid a tray through the slot. “Here’s your food since you missed breakfast. My shift is done in ten minutes, but I'll be back on in 6 hours. The other officer’s don’t plan on moving you so you’ll have to wait until I’m back on shift.” You slowly walked over and grabbed the tray, you nodded and looked at the food. There was a paper folded under the milk carton and the food looked nicer than what you usually get. As she was sliding the slot closed, you could hear her say sorry quietly then her footsteps as she walked away.  
You stood looking at the door, so many emotions going through your mind. _Sorry_? You turned, walked to the bed, set the tray down to the left side of the bed, then sat down. You grabbed the note under the milk carton, your heart pounding in your chest and nervousness forming in your stomach. You took a deep breath to calm your nerves and opened the note. Written on the paper were three words, something you desperately needed to hear.

**“I believe you.”**

-3 days later-

Officer Cook woke you up and told you to get ready. Today was the day you get transferred to a maximum-security prison, but it was also the day you lose Officer Cook. You had kept the note in your breast pocket, close to your heart. You and she kept talking through notes, she learned your name and started using it in the note but still called you _’Red’_ around other officers and prisoners. It was nice to finally have a ‘friend’, but now you have to leave her and this place.   
Doing the usual hands on the wall thing and cuffing, she took you out of your cell, other officers flanking on her sides. The officers were talking about some random crap about sports, not even paying attention to you or Cook. Cook put her hand on your back and tapped 3 times, her code for ‘are you ok?’ You had to think about it for a second but nodded your head.  
Walking up to the van, you noticed it was unmarked and there were no news reporters around at all, raising your anxiety. Two armed, and armored, police got out of the back of the van and approached you, Cook, and the other officers. There was something about them that felt ominous and intimidating causing the two officers who were talking to shut up immediately. “We will be taking over transport effective immediately.”  
“Right… are you guys from the max prison?” Officer Cook asked skeptically. The first guy that had spoken looked over at the second. The second officer spoke, his voice was deep and kind of scary, “yes we are, we’ll take over from here, Officer Cook.”  
Cook took her hand away from your back which caused a fear response in you. You felt like a small mouse being looked at and cornered by two huge cats. You started stepping backward, your breathing spiking up, “I-I-I don't want to g-go!” You saw the bigger security guard take something from a side bag out; a syringe with a clear fluid in it. Seeing the needle made you freak out, but before you could go anywhere, the smaller security guard grabbed you and the big one put the needle in your neck, injecting the liquid into your body. “C...Cook…?” You managed to mutter out, looking at her one last time before passing out.

~

She tried not to get attached, tried not to form anything between any prisoner and herself… but you seemed different than the other ones that have come and gone. She ended up giving you a nickname, which she told herself not to. She read about your dream and stayed to make sure you fell asleep, which she told herself not to do. She quietly went into your cell and put you back in bed so you were comfortable, which she berated herself for doing so. She became attached.  
Cook watched as the security guards subdued you, horror in her eyes but nothing on her face. _You’re just a prisoner, just a murderer_ , she told herself even though she didn’t believe the murder part. Cook felt terrible watching you collapse into the smaller security guard's arms. Cook tried to rationalize their actions in her head, _you’re afraid of men and you would’ve fought every step of the way… that’s all_. She watched you get put into the van. “We’ll be in touch, Miss Cook,” the bigger guard said before slamming the doors shut behind themselves. _What do they mean by ‘we’ll keep in touch?_ Cook shook her head, turned away before the van left, and walked away, a bad feeling deep in her gut that something wasn’t right.

~

You were woken up with a rough shake, you felt groggy and your mind was cloudy. *Where am I? Who’s shaking me?* You opened your eyes, vision a bit blurred, “what… what’s going on…? Where…” you tiredly asked.  
A gruff voice responded, “be quiet and get up.”   
You sat up and looked around, a breath caught in your throat. You were in an empty van with benches on either side, one security guard sitting next to you and the other across from you. Your memory came back, you remember being injected with some liquid and passing out, and the fear coming back. You tried moving away from the security officer but your chains jerked you back. They were attached to the floor of the van, preventing you from going anywhere. You looked at the two security personnel, “who are you? Where am I? Where am I being taken? Wha-”  
“Shut up, all of the answers to your questions are classified.”  
“Classified? What the fuck does that mean?”  
“Oh my god, shut up,” the other officer chimed in. “Just be quiet, D-Class.” You were about to ask about why he called you D-Class and what it was when the van stopped. The back doors opened, revealing more security personnel.   
They took you out of the van and brought you to what looked like a check-in desk, a red-haired woman sitting behind the glass “hi, welcome! Now you’re the one that murdered her family, correct?” She said it in an absurdly cheery tune which pissed you off. You were about to speak up, but one of the security said yes before you could tell the lady to fuck off. She did some typing, looked up, and smiled, “alrighty, head right in!” The door buzzed loudly, leading to one of the security guards to open the door, another pushing you forward while others followed behind.  
They took you to a room with a dentist-like chair in the middle, a man sitting next to it, sanitizing some needles and organizing bottles with colors in them. A man in a lab coat walked in, two security guards following him, and walked to the tattooist. They spoke briefly, the lab coat man handing the tattooist a paper, then he walked out of the room. You were pushed forward towards the chair by a security guard, making you walk over to it. “Welcome to my humble tattoo chair, have a seat,” the tattooist said. He had a calm demeanor, which felt comforting in this dark place.  
“Tattoo chair…? Why am I getting a tattoo? Is this a prison gang kind of thing? Or…?” He gave a hearty laugh before responding, “Well, no, and yes, but mostly no. According to the paper, you haven’t gotten your D-Class number tattooed on yet, though you did just get here. Don’t know why they act as if you should already have one.” A security guard cleared his throat, “ah, right, well, take a seat little lady, it won’t take long.” You hesitated but sat down and laid back.  
“What is a D-Class number?”  
“You poor thing, nothin’ even explained to you. It’s how they’ll identify you, your name is nothing here, erased from existence. All you’ll be is the number they give you.” He rolled up your sleeve on your left arm, “alright, take a deep breath.” He began making the tattoo on your arm, the buzzing filling the silence as he concentrated. It was a weird feeling getting a tattoo, the vibrations on your skin distracting from the pain. You never thought you’d get a tattoo… let alone a prison tattoo.   
After he finished, he reached up to the buttons of your shirt, trying to undo them. You started to freak out thinking he was going to do something to you. You tried to get out of the chair but the guards stopped you. “Hey, little lady, I ain’t gunna do anything bad to you. It’s required you have your number on your chest as well. I’ll give you a towel to cover up the sensitive bits,” the man said calmly. Him telling you that calmed your fears, you relaxed again into the chair. He handed you a towel and let you undo your own buttons. You covered up and let him start. This one hurt more than the arm tattoo, but you put up with it and powered through. After he finished, he started putting things away and sanitizing everything again. You buttoned your shirt closed and then looked at your arm…

**_‘D-9633’_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a bit of a mess! I stopped at 700 words and asked my friend if that was ok but they said I should add more and that's what I did. I didn't know exactly how to carry out the foundation/d-class part so it's a bit rushed. Any feedback is welcomed!


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling pretty inspired lately and motivated to write, so I'm hoping to post chapters 2 times a week! They may be shorter but it's still something... I'll try to make them long though! This'll start next week! I will let you know in the beginning notes if there'll be two chapters posted in that week.

After getting the tattoo you were taken to another room. There you were measured and given an orange jump that was one size up from your measurements. While looking at it, you noticed that your ‘number’ was already on the back of it, raising even more suspicion in you. You were told, angrily, to _put the jumpsuit on already_ … You guessed you looked at it too long or they are just impatient.  
You set the jumpsuit down on a nearby bench, about to undress you realized the guards were standing there watching. “U-Uhm… can I get at least _some_ privacy?”  
“No.” _So blunt…_  
“All I want is privacy of my body, I don’t feel comfortable with you guys looking at me naked.”  
“Get over it, your comfort doesn’t matter here.” You were slightly surprised by their words but then again, this did not feel like a normal prison or maximum-security prison… not that you would know what a maximum-security prison would be like. You were too stubborn for your own good and talked back, “I am _not_ changing in front of any of you, fuck you.” You covered your mouth, _oh shit… I am so stupid…_ The first thing you learned from prison was to not back talk guards, most importantly don’t swear towards them.  
The guard you told to fuck off looked pissed, like scary pissed. He took a step towards you, you take one back in return, but another guard grabbed his shoulder. The angry guard looked at the calm guard who shook their head, “yes, miss, we can look away for a minute, so be fast.” You nodded and began unbuttoning your top. The guards turned away and you dressed as fast as you could, but when they turned back you were just putting your arms in the sleeves. You made a surprised sound and quickly finished.  
The calm guard gestured towards a steel door with a key card scanner on the other side of the room. You walked over to the door, keeping your eyes to the ground as you did so.  
As soon as you stood before the door, the guard scanned his card causing the door to slide open with a loud _’clunk’_. Behind the door was a small hall, about to yards long, with another door at the end. You walked hesitantly into the hall as soon as you were past the threshold the door slid shut faster than it opened. You started to panic, looking for any handle to open the door but there wasn’t any way you were getting out.  
You hit the door, frustration and fear boiling in you, _why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on? Where the hell am I?_ You looked at the door you came from to the other door and notice they both have a symbol on them; a three-pronged cog shape with a circle in the center and three arrows pointing inward to the very center. Seeing the symbol gave you a headache so you looked at the walls. On the left side of the wall was a mirror, but it was probably a 2-way glass… the police interrogation room had one of those. You walked to the middle of the hall and looked into the mirror. You squinted, trying to see past the mirror part, “hello? Is anyone-” the intercom made a loud crackling sound, interrupting you and scaring you, “D-9633, proceed to the other door and we will open it.”  
You walked over to the door, expecting a small room but as soon as it slid open you were greeted by a huge open area, a prison atrium. You saw a lot of people in orange jumpsuits and security guards posted everywhere. After standing in the hall too long, you were told to leave, which you reluctantly did. You looked around, there were women and men mixed together and talking which was surprising. Usually, prisons separated the genders in fear of what would happen to the women.  
You felt pressure in your chest build-up, anxiety that’s built up over the past few months finally taking over your thoughts. _This is hopeless, there’s no one here for me, I am alone. The prison men here could kill me or worse… I don’t know what to do…_  
“D-…9633, I’m here to escort you to your cell,” said a man. You looked up and saw a security guard, he had a nice demeanor about him which earned a fraction of your trust. “My… cell?”  
“Yes, I need to show you where it is, so you know where to go.”  
“I guess…”  
“You guess? Right… well, follow me.” He rolled his eyes, turned, and walked away. You followed after him, another guard joining behind you. As you walked other ‘d-class’ stopped talking and watched you. One man, who looked like he’s seen some shit, yells out ‘fresh meat’ causing others to join in chanting ‘fresh meat’. It was honestly terrifying hearing so many chanting and even more so when a guard shot into the air a couple of times to make them shut up.  
Walking to the far right side of the atrium, you see a sign that says ‘women’s holding’. _Huh, I guess they do separate the genders…_ Walking into the second atrium, way smaller than the main atrium, you saw a wall of bars. There were no walls to allow privacy, there were bunk beds sandwiched together, only allowing enough space for a person to stand between them. You see some beds are occupied with women relaxing or napping away like there was nothing wrong in the world.  
The guard in front of you opened an empty cell where no one was relaxing/napping. “Your bed is the one in the corner, top bunk,” the guard said while moving away from the door to let you in. You nodded and mumbled thank you as you walked past him. You walked through the tight walkways to your bed only stopping when you heard the cell door slide shut. You looked behind you and saw the guards taking their leave. When you finally made it to your bed you struggled to climb up to the top as there was no ladder. You hear some laughter from the other women when you finally get into your bed, the laughter causing the anxiety to come back. Grabbing the blanket, you pull it over yourself, hiding the fact you’re crying from the other women.

~~The day before your conviction~~

A knock on the partially opened door pulled Dr. Bright’s attention from his paperwork he’d been working on for 3 hours. A young woman was standing there holding a couple of folders. “Yes, what is it?” Dr. Bright asked the woman.  
“May I come in, Director?”  
He rolled his eyes internally, “come in come in, I don’t bite.” She stepped in, he knew this woman somehow but couldn’t quite put his finger on how or who she was.   
“Well, that’s a shame.” Ah, he remembers now, she’s the one who flirts with him all the time. Dr. Bright let out a long and annoyed sigh, he despised this woman, “why are you here?”  
“Aw, why must you be so cruel? I brought you the paperwork you wanted for-” The phone on Dr. Bright’s desk rang, usually his desk phone isn’t used to contact him, so it must be important. He held up a finger to the woman and picked up the phone, “Hello, this is Dr. Bright, uh, what’s up? Uh-huh… yeah… yeah… no, I don’t think so…”  
“Dr. Bright-”  
“Shh! Sorry, yes, yes… seriously? Why would-” Dr. Bright remembers that the woman is still standing in his office, “would you hang on a second? Hey, can you, like, leave? This is a private phone call.”  
“But, Dr. Bright, the folders-”  
“Stop, just uh… put them on my desk and go away, and close the door behind you.”  
“Fine,” she said angrily. The woman put the folders on top of some others that were sitting on Dr. Bright’s desk. He didn’t see any of this though because he had turned around in his chair. He’d regret not listening to the woman or seeing where she put the folders later. The door shut behind the woman and Dr. Bright continued his conversation, “a test in a month? Am I gunna die? … yeah, I thought so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I really appreciate any feedback you can give me. Please let me know how you like certain characters (or dislike), I really like hearing how you guys perceive the characters! And finally, I'd like to add that in future chapters there may be "Y/N" in it. I find it difficult to have characters talk to you (the reader) without ever acknowledging your name. The reader's last name is set as Bailey, so please let me know if you prefer "Y/n", Ms. Bailey, Dr. Bailey, or a mix of them. Again thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I decided that if there is a double post week I will post a chapter on Tuesday and then on Friday. So! Here is chapter 6!

It had been a week since you arrived and getting used to this place was difficult in many ways. You would talk to some people, trying to get an understanding of where you were and what the place was, and the next day or the next week they would be gone. ‘ _Taken_ ’, the others would say, and when you asked about where you’d get a variety of answers; testing, ‘feeding’ time, ‘sacrifice’, and a variety more that were very cryptic. You eventually found, what other prisoners called, ‘ _The Survivors_ ’. You noticed that some of them were spaced out, shaking, or all-in-all not there… vacant eyes staring at nothing.  
You walked over to them hesitantly, noticing many had scars on their bodies, some of which looked surgical. When you got close enough, a rough-looking woman straightened up and gave you a nasty glare, “what do you want, freshy?”

“Freshy..? Wait, no, that doesn’t matter. I have some questions.”

“Of course you do, doesn’t everyone in this fucked up place?”

“Well… I-I guess…? I don’t know anything.”

“Fucking Christ, this gets worse every year… at least that’s what I’m told from this guy,” she gestures over to a man who had the most scars out of the entire group. He was sleeping, you think, his eyes were open but he was breathing like he was asleep. “Hey, old man, wake up, another freshy has questions.”  
“Buh? Huh? Oh,” he looks at you, but it felt like he was staring right through you and into your soul. “Hello, you must be who Blood is talking about?”  
“No shit, Scar. You’re such a dumbass sometimes,” said ‘Blood’ in a mocking tone. He didn’t respond to her, only focusing his attention on you. Something felt off about him but you couldn’t tell what exactly. “Well, ask away, I know a lot about this hellscape,” ‘Scar’ said, his voice sounded croaky and gruff like he’s smoked a pack of cigarettes every day.  
“Well, for one, where am I?”

“The Foundation, a place worse than prison.”

“What do you mean, worse than prison?”

“Ah you know, so many things to list, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“... ‘The Foundation’... it sounds familiar… like there’s more to the title… **Ow**!” You winced at the thought that there was something more, it made your ears ring. Your vision darkened to reveal a memory of the cog symbol with ‘S.C.P’ under it on a pristine lab coat. “Urk… what the fuck…?”

“You good, lady? … Eh I don’t really care. What’s your name by the way, you look familiar. Not like 'I've seen you before' familiar, just... you have some features that look familiar.”

“Uh well… my last name is Bailey…”

“Wait, wait, wait, ‘ _ **Bailey**_ ’? Like, Researcher J███ Bailey?”

“Uh, yeah, he is-,” you winced, “was… my father.”

“Uh-oh,” ‘Blood said, scooting away from ‘Scar’.

“Well, well, well, it seems his little daughter ended up on the other side of the scope!” He started to stand and roll his sleeves up, revealing more scars, a lot of them were surgical. “That s.o.b put me through fucking hell with that goddamned plague doctor bastard. And now, I’m gunna beat the shit out of his daughter in return.”

“W-wait, please, I’m not my father! I didn’t do anything to you!” 

“Funny how things work out, eh?” As he got closer, you looked around for a guard to help you, but all of them looked the other direction. _What the hell kind of prison is this_?! “No guard is gunna help ya, girly. They don’t give a shit about D-Class drama,” ‘Scar’ said with a humorous tone.  
He was too close for comfort now causing your flight response to kick in. You ran from him as fast as possible, trying to make it more difficult to get you by weaving through crowded areas in your path to the women’s holding area. You took a chance glance behind you to see how far back he was, which wasn’t much. Unlike you, people parted for him, probably out of respect or fear of what would happen to them if they got in the way. Before you could turn your head forward, you ran into someone, stumbling forward past them and falling on all fours.  
“What the hell?” The guy said, confused. You glance back at him, he was tall, black hair, had a slight tan, and his eyes were emerald green. His eyes held yours until he looked towards the guy chasing you then he immediately looked back into your eyes. His eyes told you to run, that he would do something to stall time for you to get to safety. You normally wouldn’t trust people, especially in this place, but for some reason you trusted him.  
You got up as fast as you could and kept running, _why is this place so fucking long_? Before you passed the threshold of the women’s area, you looked back to see what the guy was doing to stall ‘Scar’ just in time to see him fall to the ground, the guy's foot stretched out slightly to trip him. You and the guy made final eye contact before you ducked away into the holding area.

~~

The next day you decided just to stay in the women’s holding area to hide from ‘Scar’ and anyone else that was after you. You weren’t sure what exactly you could do in the holding area, so you just tried to make the best of it. You mingled with some of the other women, making little connections here and there. You let it spill to one of the other inmates about how you ended up here and they seemed shocked, revealing she was only here because she killed someone on accident… a ‘robbery gone wrong’ as she put it. After that she left in a hurry, looking afraid.  
You knew you couldn’t hide in the holding area forever, your stomach demanded an offering, and the bell for lunch had just rung. You reluctantly stepped out, immediately noticing that some people seemed hesitant at the sight of you. Walking with slight confidence now, you headed for the line to get your meal, watching how people react to your presence. Some were indifferent, others were fearful, and very few looked angry. You couldn’t figure out why there was a sudden shift to your identity, but at least you weren’t being hunted.  
You grabbed a tray from a pile and started looking at the food options they had. “Really makin’ a name for yourself out there, huh?” You jumped and turned, afraid it was ‘Scar’, but it was the man who had saved you and gave you time to escape. He looked a bit different now, maybe it was the black eye or the huge fresh gash on his cheek? The gash was very distinctive of a makeshift knife, a rough cut going from his right temple curving downward toward his nose and stopping just above his lip. “Oh my god, are you ok? You’re the guy that helped me, right? I’m sorry!”

“Aye, aye, keep it down, don’t say sorry. It makes you sound weak, and you don’t want that right now. Especially since you’ve made a name for yourself so people avoid you.”

“What are you talking about? A name for myself?”

“Yea’, they call ya ‘Heads’, on accounts of you killin’ your parents and almost cutting their heads off.”

“I-... ugh no,” you turned away from the man and angrily gathered food onto your tray. He seemed confused by your sudden anger but followed you until you took a seat on a, surprisingly, empty bench.

“Aye, what’s got ya’? Did I say somethin’?”

“Yes!” People looked over at you, causing you to drop to a whisper, “yes, you did say something… I didn’t kill my parents.”

“Well from where I heard it, you told this girl how you ended up here and-”

“Yeah, I did tell her! I also told her I didn’t kill them and I was falsely accused!”

“Ahhh, I see, so you aren’t a ‘normal’ prisoner, like me.”

“What do you mean by ‘normal’? Also, did you just drop your accent?”

“Yeah, I only use it to blend in… What I mean by ‘normal’ is like… hmm… like in this place there are some fucked up people. There are actual serial killers here, murderers, gang members, and child-”

“I get it! I get it… please just go on with your point.”

“Well… you were falsely accused, _and convicted_ , of your parent’s murders, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m here because I was falsely accused too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't pick it up, Scar survived encounters with 049, including being touched. It may not make much sense, but it's a reference to DunmerLover's 049 fanfictions. I really recommend reading them, there is smut in them so be aware of that! The story is really good though! ^u^
> 
> If you cant read the story because of the content, I will tell you why Scar survived when I post the next chapter, should Dunmer Lover give me permission to! Thank you for reading! Critiques, advice, compliments, suggestions are all welcomed!


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! The reason Scar survived SCP-049 is that in DunmerLover's story there are people who have a certain immunity to the effects of 049's touch. Scar is one of those that have immunity!

You sat there in silence, _he was falsely accused and convicted also? How many people here are like me_? You looked down at your food then back to him, “you’re joking me, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t joke about that.”

You nodded, “that’s fair… what did you supposedly do?”

“Killing my family, like you.”

“Wow… I wonder how many people here are like us…”

“I’m not sure… I just got here so I haven’t bothered asking around.” You nodded again, not sure how to continue the conversation without making it awkward or uncomfortable. You’re sure he probably doesn’t want to talk too much about it, you know you don’t like to. You started to pick at your food, _wow the food looks disgusting_. The food of the day was Shit On a Shingle, an old military type food eaten during World War II. The name served it well, the creamed beef on top of a biscuit looked the part.  
As you were starting to eat you guessed the guy read the silence and got up. You looked up at him, a charming smile formed on his face causing your heart to flutter. “I’m going to grab my own tray of food, would you mind if I joined you to eat?” He said you hadn’t realized his voice was actually deep and had a calming effect causing another heart flutter. _Shut up, heart, we just met this guy_ , “oh, uh, yeah, sure! I’ll wait for you.” He smiled at that and walked away to the line.  
Usually while waiting for someone you’d be on your phone, but now all you did was people watch. It was interesting seeing how people interacted with others, especially in a prison environment with a strange hierarchy. It seemed those that have come back from… wherever they were highly respected, even if they were catatonic. Though, those who didn’t ‘snap’ out of the state were taken away again and never seen again. You were thinking about how Scar was, how he sat there sleeping with his eyes open and how his eyes were glazed over in a sense, but you were snapped out of it when the guy put his tray down, “Hey, sorry it took so long, there was a person who couldn’t make up their damn mind about if they wanted a biscuit or not.”

“Oh, no, you’re fine. I was just thinking about things… by the way, what’s your name?”

“Well, I don’t really use my real name much…” He went down to a whisper and leaned in closer, “plus if we’re caught using our actual names we’ll get in trouble. So, you can call me Fox, and what do I call you?”

“I guess you can call me Heads if that’s what everyone else is using. Can I ask, how did you get your prison name?”

He laughed, “well after I was put in prison, I tried to adapt to how it worked. I adapted quite well, I was able to sneak things away from the guard, gain trust with strong prison figures, and so on. I made a name for myself for being cunning and sly with the guards, so I was called Fox.”

“How long were you in prison before you came to this prison?”

“Hmm… I was in prison for… about a year before a person came to visit and asked me if I wanted to come here. They said if I came and lived for a month that I’d be set free, so I took it. The presentation when I got here was really weird and interesting.”

“Excuse me, what? Asked if you wanted to come here? A presentation?”

“Wait, did you not get any of that? What happened to you?” He asked, his face showing visible confusion. You felt pretty heated about everything and you let it all out, poured everything out to him. Maybe you were being stupid and trusting people too much, but you felt you could trust him. After you finished, you let out a big exaggerated exhale and rubbed your temples. You looked at Fox to see his reaction to what you told him and he was just rubbing his chin. “That’s… really weird… all the people I’ve talked to went through what I did. Maybe there more to this than we know?”  
It made sense, why would you just be taken by force? Why weren’t you given a presentation? You started to say something but the alarm buzzed, signaling the end of lunch and the start of headcount.   
You and Fox stood at the same time, taking your trays to the trash. You waved bye to Fox and he did in return with a sweet smile, causing another flutter. You walked into the women’s holding area and stood in line with the other D-Class while the guards stood at the door waiting for the stragglers to come in. You noticed while standing there, that the other D-Class gave you some space.   
As soon as everyone was standing there, the door slid shut and locked. The head guard walked over, looked down at a paper, and cleared his throat. It was sentencing time. “Alright, listen up everyone! Would these D-Class go stand over to my right near the door!” The guard started listing off numbers, sealing their fates. After he was finished, the other guards ushered out the doomed D-Class, fear clearly plastered on their faces. You were relieved you weren’t called, but a sudden thought came to mind, _what if Fox was called for_?!  
After everyone was free to go milling about, you sped walked to the table you guys sat at, hoping he’d be there. You saw him sitting there, his leg bouncing up and down and his eyes scanning the crowd until they landed on you. He stood up faster than you thought someone could without getting lightheaded. He sped walked over, “ah fuck, thank god you didn’t get called on, I was worried there for a bit.

“Yeah… I could tell. I was worried too… that you would get called.”

“No, no, the presentation said that you’d be fine for a week as you’re getting adjusted and then you can be called on. I’ve been here for two days, so I was fine, but you… you’ve been here for a week already.”

You chuckled a bit, “I guess I was lucky? But, why were you so worried? You just met me, I’m basically a stranger.”

“Well…” you swear you could see him blushing. He rubbed the back of his head and gave an embarrassed smile, “when you ran into me that day… and we made eye contact, I felt something… like that you’re important. So, I distracted Scar, got the shit beat out of me, but I think it was worth it.”  
You didn’t know how to reply to any of that, _is he saying he likes me? How do I even respond to that_?   
“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to embarrass you or make you feel like you had to respond. I just… wanted to get that out there, so you know that I’ve got your back and I’m here for you…” You felt your heart swell at that, that’s all you ever wanted.  
Without thinking too much about it, you hugged him, causing him to raise his arms in surprise. He lowered his arms and returned the hug, his arms squeezing around you… a warm comforting feeling growing in your heart. Maybe it was hope?  
“Hey! Break it up you two!” A guard shouted out, causing everybody to look over at you and Fox hugging. You let him go quickly, as did he and stepped away. You were so embarrassed that you were sure you were blushing as red as your old prison jumpsuit. Everyone was exchanging looks and mumbling, _great, time for the rumors to start_.  
“Well, aren’t you two close?” Said a voice behind you and Fox. You both turned around, the voice scarily familiar. Standing there with a sly smile was Scar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts on Fox! I did make a picrew of Fox, if you're interested in seeing it let me know!


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not posting on Tuesday, I had a lot of trouble writing chapter 8 in the way that fueled the story! I'll try for next week Tuesday, but no promises. Life and health stuff will determine that!

Seeing Scar standing there, a grin on his face, was terrifying but knowing you had Fox it made it less so. Fox stared at Scar, not breaking eye contact for a moment as he took a step in front of you to protect you. Scar glared at Fox, “get the fuck out of my way, ‘ _Fox_ ’”

“How ‘bout ya go fuck yourself, Scar.” Fox spit back, his accent coming back in full. Scar rolled his eyes, grabbed Fox’s shoulder, and punched his stomach causing Fox to double over and gasp. Scar pushed Fox to the side and took a step towards you. You were frozen in place, unsure if you should run or help Fox but your thoughts were interrupted by Scar, “Hm… so, you killed your old man, aye? Interesting…”

“I didn-” Fox coughed loudly and dramatically to make you shut up. _Ah, right… keep a strong look…_ “Y...yeah, I did.” You felt like throwing up saying that you killed him, it felt wrong.

“Well, _Heads_ , maybe I jumped to conclusions too soon. Shoulda asked you what you did to end up here instead of immediately trying to beat the shit out of you.”

You flicked your eyes over to Fox who was just starting to get back up, _I have to blend in to make it_ , “Uh… yeah, no fucking shit.” You made your voice sound aggressive to mask your growing fear that Scar would kill you if he found out that you aren’t what people say you are.

“You got more fire today than you did yesterday, girl. Hmm… Ah, I see, feign ignorance and kindness then surprise stab whoever gets in your way. That’s a pretty interesting strat, ‘cept your story got out.”

“Its **Heads** not ‘girl’, get it fucking right. Yeah, that bitch talked, would’ve thought she’d stay quiet if she knew what was best for her continued life.” Scar gave a hearty laugh then nodded smiling. “Yeah… You’re not half bad, _Heads_.”

“Are we good then?” You asked, looking over at Fox who was finally starting to get up. Scar glanced at Fox, looking at him up and down, analyzing everything.

“ _We’re_ good, but as for your friend here… he can go fuck himself, I don’t trust ‘im.”

“The feeling… is mutual,” Fox wheezed out in response. You partially frowned at both of them, you weren’t sure how to bridge the gap between them but maybe it didn’t need to be. Scar rolled his eyes, then looked at you, “look, I still don’t know about you so don’t expect me to treat you like a ‘best friend’. I’m just saying; I’m not going to beat the shit out of you and/or kill you. I’ll answer you’re stupid questions about this place, but that’s the extent of it.”

“Fair enough, I can deal with that,” you nodded, Fox walking away already. Scar returned a curt nod and walked off to where he usually sits. You stood there watching him, waiting for him to disappear in the crowd of people. As soon as you lost sight of him you turned and sped walked over to ‘your’ table. Fox, the only one sitting at the table, looked uncharacteristically angry and frustrated as he stared at the top of the table and mumbled to himself. “Hey… Are you ok, Fox?” He jumped at hearing my voice, _must’ve been in deep thought…_

“Huh?! Oh uh… hm… I mean my stomach hurts like hell, but otherwise, I’m fine. Glad I didn’t eat too much food,” he laughed but flinched and stopped. Concern forming on your face, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes. I’m fine. I’ll be fine, that was a good punch… he knew exactly where to hit to knock me down in one strike.” Fox took a deep breath and let out a long exhale, slowly laying his forehead onto the table. You guessed Scar would probably know some things, he’s been in the place for however long. _I wonder if he’ll tell me about how long he’s been here… and tell me about what they do here exactly_.  
You were making a mental list of questions when you felt Fox put his hand on yours. Your face flushed a bright pink and you looked down at him, he was still face down on the table and regulating his breathing. You didn’t know what to think or what to do, you just met Fox and just befriended him and now this was happening. You closed your eyes and made a stern face, _shut up, heart. I need to be logical about this, I can’t let my feelings take control of my thoughts_. You took a deep breath, opened your eyes, and looked down at Fox’s hand on yours. Feeling a tug of emotion in your chest, you slid your hand away from his, “I need to go get something, I’ll be back.” You stood up and walked away towards the women’s hold, Fox lifting his head to watch after you, a slight show of sadness in his eyes.

~~~

It had been two days since you had spoken to Fox. Every time you saw him you would duck into the crowd of people trying to blend in, but he somehow always spots you. He tries to get your attention and follow after you but he would stop when you got near Scar. You weren’t sure why you were avoiding him so much, every time you saw him and thought about talking to him a pressure would build up in your chest, making you feel sick.  
“Why are you always comin’ over here?” Scar asked. 

“Oh, uh, I’m just trying to avoid Fox…”

“He do somethin’ to you? Just beat him into submission or something.”

“Well… no… he just, I don’t know… touched my hand?” There was a long pause as Scar, Blood, and all the other Survivors stared at you. Then Scar burst out laughing, being joined by the others. “Are you kiddin’ me? All he did was touch you’re fuckin’ hand? Jesus Christ, Heads, just go rough him up a bit and tell him not to touch your hand. Or do you want _me_ to do it for you?” His tone was full of insinuation, which made you incredibly nervous.   
“Uh no, I can do it myself, you dumb fuck.” You internally put your hand on your mouth, _fuck, fuck, fuck_. You kept a strong face, trying not to show any shred of hesitation or weakness. Everyone gasped and immediately looked at Scar. He just sat there, slight surprise on his face which turned to anger then to amusement, “you do have a spine after all. Well, go fuck him up then, I want to watch.”   
As you walked over to him your thoughts were going crazy, _what am I going to say to him? Am I really going to fight him? Will he fight back? If I don’t fight him will Scar hurt me_? You were so lost in thought you hadn’t realized you walked straight to Fox, “Heads, hey are you ok?”

“What? No, I’m fine-”

“Are you sure? You’re really pale.”

“Fight me.”

“Did- wait, what?”

“I said fight me, _Fox_.”

“Y...You’re joking, right?” When he had just finished speaking, you punched him straight in the nose, a crack noise sounding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Sorry, this chapter was short, like I said I had a lot of writing this chapter. I have ideas for Chapter 9, I think you'll enjoy the beginning.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday update! :D

You hit him before you could even think about what you were doing. When you pulled your hand back after punching him you could see blood running out of his nose. You shook your hand, _fuck, that hurt_ , as he covered his nose in surprise. The sound of the punch was loud enough to make the entire room go silent, except for Scar, he was laughing so loud it echoed in the quiet room.  
Fox took his hand away and saw his blood on it, “what… what the _fuck_? Why did you do that? I think you just broke my nose!” Scar had finished laughing, mostly, and yelled out, “ _ **fight**!_” You didn’t think he meant to start it, but… everyone started fighting each other. A full-blown riot starting just because you punched Fox. You looked at him in the eye, trying to convey your intent on not hurting him anymore. He seemed to understand suddenly, looking from you and then to Scar, who was barely visible between all the bodies, then held out his hand.  
You looked at his hand, the feeling in your chest starting to rise again. You looked up at him and shook your head, he seemed confused and hurt but accepted your decision. Fox looked past you and yelled, “duck!” You did as he said, a man rolling over you from the forward momentum of trying to punch you. Fox grabbed the guy off the ground and gave him an incredibly fast punch to the throat. The guy gagged and choked, blood coming from the corner of his mouth… it was kind of scary to see Fox doing so much damage in one hit.  
Fox threw the guy to the side, a scary glaze in his eyes, and jerked his head slightly to the right, his eyes clearing, then looked down at you, “Why are you still crouching? We gotta get out of this riot and get to safety, otherwise, we will be killed.” You stood up quickly and nodded, not sure what to say after that display of power… _it was kind of hot, to be honest. **Oh my god shut the fuck up**_.  
You and Fox started to make your way out of the chaos when alarms started blaring. You looked up, a bunch of security started to line up, guns in hand, on the atrium balconies. You knew what they were there for, you knew what they had in the guns, you knew what was happening, but you didn’t know how you knew these things. “Fox, stop, stop.”

“Huh? What, why are we stoppin-... oh, yeah…” he looked up, it was like he didn’t even notice the alarm going off. 

“I’ll see you when we wake up, ok? _If_ we’re not put into solitary that is…” 

“What are you talking about-?” His arm was shot, a small needle-like object sticking into his skin. He stumbled backward and forwards then he fell down, others quickly adding to the bodies on the floor. You felt a sharp sting in you shoulder, the pain making you hiss. You grabbed it to pull it out, but you felt sharp pinpricks into your hands. The only thought in your mind before you joined the ‘nap time’ was; _I guess they added reverse hooks to stop them from being pulled out, good move._

~~~ 

You sat up quickly, pain pulsing in your shoulder. You looked around and realized you’re in the women’s holding area now. Other women started to wake up as well, some beds were empty even though they had people there this morning.  
You swung your legs over and jumped off the bed. You walked out to the main hall, seeing women milling about, unsure of what to do. You continued on down the hall to the door, the other women moving out of your way. When you got to the door it didn’t slide open like usual. The light above the door was red instead of its usual green. You were confused at first but remembered the riot that just happened.  
You were just standing there recapping your memories when the door buzzed loudly, making you jump back. A voice came over the speaker on the door, “step away from the door and keep your hands up, D-class.” You did as you were told, seemed to be the usual at prisons… though this one was very different. The door slid open revealing three security personnel, two holding guns, and one with cuffs. They cuffed you and started taking you away, but they didn’t do it to anyone else which confused you.  
Security took you through some doorways and stopped at a door on your right side. The one that wasn’t holding a gun swiped a keycard on a panel near the door causing it to open.  
In the room, you could see two guards standing in the back at each corner, there was a desk in the center with a strong looking man sitting behind it. You made eye contact with him and felt immediate fear, you could feel that he wasn’t a normal person. You quickly looked away and noticed Scar standing on the left side of the room in front of the desk and Fox on the right. Confusion flooded your head, but you didn’t get the chance to think about it much as you were nudged into the room.  
The man at the desk had his elbows on his desk, his hands clasped together hiding his mouth. He wore a hat, hiding his forehead, mostly that is. And his eyes were heterochromatic; one blue and one green… though you swore you could see a third eye under his hat. You tried not looking at him as much as possible, you felt if he made long eye contact, he could read everything about you. You looked over at Fox, seeing he also was avoiding eye contact with the man, you were glad you weren’t the only one. You looked at Scar, he looked bored, annoyed, and tired, but he didn’t avoid the other man’s gaze.  
The door slid shut quickly making you flinch and the feeling of the air moving. You looked back and then to the desk of the man, there were too many men around you, you were the only woman there, they could do anything to you. Fear began to rise into your throat, breathing felt constricted, _you_ felt constricted. The man cleared his throat, his voice was rough yet smooth… a weird combination but interesting, “calm the fuck down, uh,” he looked down at a paper. He continued reading it then looked to one of the guards, “what’s this d-classes number, I can’t fucking find it anywhere.” A guard walked over, roughly grabbed your arm, and rolled up your sleeve, “D-9633, sir.” 

“Right… strange… anyway, I have a question, _9633_ , that I would like a clear and truthful answer too.” 

“Y...Yes?” 

“Yes, what? And fucking look at me when I’m talking to you.” 

You struggled to look at him, but as soon as you locked eyes with him you felt you literally couldn’t look away, “y-yes, sir.” He gave a smile, no kindness showing, only the look of a predator that’s caught its prey. 

“Good. Now, would you mind explaining _what the **fuck**_ happened yesterday?” 

“Uh… well… F-I mean… that D-Class,” you motioned to Fox, “and I got into a fight, but that’s the extent of it.” 

You felt fuzziness in your brain as the growingly familiar man laughed, “that’s rich." Suddenly his voice got deeper and more threatening, "but I know there’s way more to the story than that. Also, I know you D-Class make stupid names for each other, so just use those.” 

Scar spoke up before you could, “oh fuck off, Clef, leave the girl alone.” You were sort of surprised by Scar’s sudden defensiveness for you. The man, who you know now as Clef, shot Scar an unreadable look. 

“Was I speaking to you, 6137? And when did _you_ become so sentimental, hm?” Scar only rolled his eyes in response. “Now for you,” he looked at Fox. “8490, I see you have a broken nose, now how did you get that?” Fox’s only response was throwing a guilty glance at you. “I see, interesting. 9633, did you break 8490’s nose?” 

“Y… Yes, I did, sir," your voice cracked. 

“Hm… you look familiar, I can’t quite put my finger on it.” A guard cleared their throat, “Dr. Clef, stay on topic, there’s a meeting in 10 minutes.” Clef waved the guard away, “yeah, whatever, right. Well, you three have been assigned a duty to do today.” 

“Oh, great, what is it this time?” Scar mumbled out. 

“I’ve only been here four days, though,” Fox said hesitantly. 

“Boo fucking hoo, life isn’t fair, so shut the fuck up and deal with it.” Clef grabbed a paper from a stack on the desk, “alright, all three of you are assigned cleaning duty for 173’s containment room, good luck.” Clef stood up, a cruel and terrifying smile directed at you, “As for you, I’ll figure out who you are one way or the other, see ya later.” A shudder of horror and dread ran through your body. You looked down and moved from the door to let Clef pass by.  
As soon as Clef left and some guards came into the room you could hear Scar sigh loudly, “Fuck.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled with this chapter as well. In general, I'm having difficulty extending the D-Class experience and keeping it interesting and in line with the story. At first, I was rushing through the D-Class part but my friend said I should slow down and let the reader (you guys) experience it more, which I agreed. So if this and the other D-Class stuff seems jumbled, that's why. I really want to make this a full-on story and not a rushed mess... but anyway!  
> Thank you so much for reading! Critiques and advice are welcome! And, I'd love to hear what you think of the characters so far and the story as well! Have a great day/night!


	11. Chapter 10

Dr. Bright looked up from his paperwork, a confused look on his face, “am I forgetting something? Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something important?” Bright sat there for a while, pen paused while he was writing up a report. He put the pen down off to the side and leaned back into his chair, “what… am I… forgettttttinnnnngg?” A long silence followed, looking through his thoughts like a file.  
Bright leaned forward to an intercom on his desk and pressed the button, “helloo?”

“Yes, Dr. Bright? What do you need?” A familiar female voice responded.

“Great, you’re here!”

“Well, yes. I’m basically your secretary, Dr. Bright.”

~~~

They had let you, Fox, and Scar have a full day’s rest… by force that is. All three of you were taken to isolation rooms, away from the atrium. It was a little nice having privacy again, well besides the cameras. You weren’t sure if Fox or Scar were next to you, the walls were soundproof so you wouldn’t be able to ask anyway. The day went by slowly, only knowing it was bedtime when told over the speaker.  
There was no nice wake-up call, just a loud buzzing sound and guards coming in with guns. You had forgotten where you were until you saw the familiar symbol on the guard’s uniforms. They ripped you out of sleep so suddenly that you basically were sleepwalking, you only fully woke up when you saw them drag Fox and Scar out of their rooms.  
All three of you were walking in front of the guards, walking side by side with each other. You wanted to say something but you were afraid of what the guards would do. Instead, you looked around, observing your surroundings and trying to see if anything was familiar. The longer you stayed at ‘The Foundation’, the more everything felt and _looked_ familiar. Every detail you picked up felt like another key to your memories, a wall of pictures and strings connecting everything together. You felt if you could touch the walls more of your memory would come back. _Should I even get them back? There must be a reason I forgot… right? But… I want to remember. I **need** to remember_.  
You were snapped out of your thoughts when a guard pushed you forward with his gun. You didn’t know if he had told you to do something or if you stopped walking, you were too lost in thought to hear or do something.  
“Get moving, no stopping,” the guards’ voice was angry and demanding. You took a shaky breath and did as you were told, keeping your gaze to the floor. You heard Fox clear his throat to grab your attention. You glanced over, enough to see him but nor enough to move your head, which he was doing as well. He mouthed out ‘you ok?’ which you nodded very slightly and gave an ‘I’ll tell you later’ look.   
A little way down the hall, the guards made you guys stop at a grey door, the familiar symbol painted white on the door. Your guard scanned his keycard, causing the door to slide open, revealing a… small room? They pushed all of you through, walked in after, then one of the guards scanned their keycard again on the inside. The door closed and the room started to move, _oh… an elevator, stupid…_  
After quite a while the elevator stopped and the door slid open, revealing a grey wall. Painted on the wall was ‘Sub Level 1’, another annoyingly familiar sight. All these familiar feelings were starting to make you angry. You felt stupid for not remembering things that seem so simple… but then again, maybe being in that year-long coma messed with your ability to remember things.  
All three of you were guided out of the elevator and down the hall to the left. The hallway was long, a couple of doors here and there, some doors having small plaques above scanners, and house plants scattered around. Otherwise, the hall was empty, grey, and quiet. You felt confused, _this wing of the containment zone is usually really busy, where is everyone_? You shook your head, _what the hell am I talking about? How would I know anything about this place_?  
The guards had you and the others stop at a door, well two doors. The left door had a plaque that said “Observation Room”, the right doors plaque said “SCP-173 Containment Room”. You stared at the right doors plaque as the guard scanned his keycard, a fuzzy and painful feeling overcoming your brain. The door slid open quickly, snapping your attention to the now open room. There were stairs leading down and another door, a heavy steel door at the bottom.  
The center guard spoke, “Go, stand at the door.” Scar was the first to go in, he looked slightly scared yet also bored, Fox following after him. You stood there for a second until you were nudged with a gun. You walked hesitantly down the stairs, the feeling of unease growing in your gut. The door slid shut when you reached halfway down the stairs, making you flinch, _why do the doors have to be so loud_? When you reached the door, Scar was grabbing a mop and a mop bucket while mumbling to himself.   
A voice came over the speaker, “Alright, one person is going to clean and the other two are going to watch 173. The two watching 173 are not to look away. If-”

“If they need to blink they have to alert the others before doing so,” you covered your mouth in surprise, Scar and Fox looking over at you with wide eyes. Silence followed for a good 10 seconds before the voice came back, “yyyeesss… exactly… hm.” _How do I know that? Why do I feel like I’m on the wrong end? Why am I so afraid when I don’t even know what’s behind the door_? Scar grabbed your shoulder, snapping you back to reality. You looked at him in surprise, he was looking at you… _really_ looking at you. There was no glaze or anger or anything negative, there was only a faint look of fatherly concern… something you know too well from… well…  
“You good, Heads?”

“Ah… I… I think so? I’m not sure.”

Scar cleared his throat, his eyes reverting their gaze and his hand dropping down and to the mop handle. “Right, well, we have to keep our uh,” he smirked a bit. “We gotta keep our _heads_ about us in there.” You gave a chortle and nodded, _a dad joke if I’ve ever heard one_. You looked over to Fox, he looked slightly annoyed at Scar but once he saw you looking at him he gave a forced smile.  
The guards told you guys to prepare for everything; Scar filled the mop bucket with water then put an unknown soap in it, then he walked over to a locker and opened it. Inside was 3 Class C hazmat suits, one for each of them. Scar started ‘gearing up’ and motioned for you to come over. When you walked over, he started teaching you how to put everything on, ignoring Fox completely. Fox just eavesdropped and followed along. It felt like a father trying to ignore his daughter’s boyfriend and exclude him from activities, it was another familiar feeling. This one was the first familiar feeling that didn’t make you frustrated and angry, just… sad.

~~~

Dr. Bright thought for a second, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

There was a sigh in response, “Is there something you needed?”

“Oh yeah, uh… could you look through my schedule file for the past 3 months? I feel like I’m forgetting something important.”

“Of course I can. It’ll take a while, but I’ll write it up as a brief recap.”

He leaned in to say something, but he remembered suddenly, _fuck I’m missing Mac & Cheese day_! He cleared his throat and quickly responded before running out of his office, “Thank you, Andrea!”


	12. Chapter 11

After all three of you suited up, Scar argued with Fox a bit. You weren’t sure what it was about exactly, you were too busy looking around and trying to understand why you knew this SCP. The room seemed familiar… well, the area you were in was at least. You looked over to the area under the stairs, it was empty except for a small thing laying on the ground. You walked over, a feeling in your gut telling you to not look at the object. You ignored the feeling, you knew this was an object of memory and not something dangerous… but nowadays those seem to coincide.  
You crouched down and picked it up, it was a dried rose petal; so brittle it broke between your fingers. It had been there for a really long time, abandoned. You felt a familiar fuzziness in your brain, a short memory coming to you.

_”Why did you take me to 173’s containment room, you idiot?”_

_“‘Cuz no one will think to look for us here, so shh!”_

_“We have work-mmm!”_

_“Shhh… just go with me on this, ok?”_

_“Mmm mhm. Uff, jeez, what? What do you want to show me?”_

_“Over here… taadaa!”_

_“... how romantic, a picnic basket under the stairs of 173’s containment room. Lovely.”_

_“I’m trying my best! There’s no testing here or cleaning today, so this is… well… yeah!”_

_“... I’m gunna leave.”_

_“No, wait! Please, stay, just… humor me?”_

_“Pff… being with you is humoring you! But ok, since you’re trying *laughter*”_

_“Phew, come on, s-sit! *patting* Right here!”_

_“I’ll sit but you have to put… **that** away.”_

_“Huh? Oh… right *rustling* good?”_

_“Good, *sitting* what’re we eating? You can’t cook.”_

_“*scoff* … *sigh* you’re right… I made peanut butter and jelly. But I got you this to make up for it!”_

_“Pfff… a rose?”_

_“Hey, don’t pull the petals off! I went out and picked it out myself.”_

_“You sound so proud of yourself! Well… *kisses rose* I love it… and, though you can be stupid sometimes, I love you.”_

_“Now, who’s being cheesy?”_

_“Oh, shut up!”_

_“Pff… but… I lo...”_

“Hey… hey. Hey! Are you ok? Heads?” Fox was shaking you a little roughly, trying to get you to respond. You looked at him and sniffled, tears running down your face. Fox looked taken aback for a moment but then looked worried, “what happened? Are you ok?”

“I...I’m fine… I’m ok… nothing happened…”

“No, you’re not ok… but, if you don’t want to talk about it… I won’t push.”

“Heads, if Fox made you upset because of our argument just let me know. I’ll take care of it,” Scar popped his knuckles, Fox glaring back at him. You let out a shaky laugh, shook your head, and wiped your eyes. You grabbed your helmet and put it back on, you didn’t even realize you took it off during the memory. “No… it’s none of that… I… don’t know what it was exactly… a memory maybe?” You turned to the two men, they looked confused at first but shook it off.

“Look, I’ll mop. I’ve done it before, you and… Fox… just watch 173. Be sure to watch carefully, I don’t plan on dying. Today, at least.”

You both nodded, following after Scar as he wheeled the mop bucket to the heavy steel door. Scar looked up and knocked on the steel door loudly. No sooner after that, a loud on and off buzzing started and bright orange warning lights started spinning. Scar was tense and staring at the door giving you the feeling that you should also stare at the door.  
As soon as the door slid open, you saw 173. The familiar terrifying sculpture. And stupidly, you felt the urge to blink. You didn’t, but you wanted to. “Are we good to go?” Scar asked, his voice in a false calming tone.

“Yeah, I’m good. Fox?”

“I guess, let’s get it over with.”

“You keep that attitude and all three of us are dead,” Scar snapped back. He wheeled the bucket into the room, You and Fox following with, staring 173 down. As soon as everyone was in the buzzing started up and the doors started closing, making anxiety rise up in your throat. You swallowed hard, _it’s ok, this is procedure. They can’t let 173 escape and break containment. It’ll all be fine, I know it_. And so… the cleaning began.

~~~

Clef walked down the hall and scanned his card to the observation room, he wanted to watch the show even if there’s nothing exciting. Exciting meant dead and death for this D-Class group was not an option, especially not for the girl.  
The door slid open, the guards inside jumping and reaching for their guns. “Woah, woah there, take it easy. It’s just me, so calm the fuck down.”

“Dr. Clef? Why are you here? I thought you had a mission to run?”

“Plans change,” he shrugged. “How’s everything going? The D-Class in yet? Specifically the girl.”

“Not yet, we heard crying though. Maybe just fear. Why do you care and why specifically the girl?”

Clef gave an abnormally wide sharp tooth grin, flicked up his hat, and leaned against the door frame, “That’s for me to know, and for everyone else to figure out. Can’t spoil the stupidity.” The guard speaking nodded slightly, internally scoffing, and insulting Clef. There was a loud knocking sound coming from the intercom, signaling the start of the process and the invitation for Clef to step in. The guard turned to the control button on the desk and pressed it, initiating the door opening sequence.  
Dr. Clef walked over to watch, hovering intimidatingly over the guards. He crossed his arms, watching everything, but watching you specifically. Watching your body language, seeing your reactions to 173 and your surroundings. He wanted to see more of you; more of your body, more of your face, just… more… but for now, this will suffice. Clef was sure the crying came from you, he’s read the report about you and the idiot.  
He was watching intently, throwing glances at 173, but still focusing on you. Your slight, barely noticeable, body language was interesting… he’s never seen someone dosed with so much amnestic to be so alive still and not brain dead, let alone resisting it and remembering things. He watched as you shuddered and looked up to the observation window, looking at him. It wasn’t like you could see anyone, being that it’s a one-way mirror, but it made his smile all the wider.  
Clef wanted to continue watching, but there was a buzzing coming from his phone, _guess they did notice my absence, how unfortunate_.  
Alto leaned down between the guards, speaking suddenly and loudly to scare them, “look here, you two. I want the recording of this sent to my office after this is done. Not the whole day’s recording, just the cleaning process… every available angle.”

“But, sir-”

“Shut the fuck up, don’t _’but, sir’_ me,” he said mockingly. “Get it done. And lastly,” he lowered his voice, filling his words with thick venom; a warning. “You better make god damn sure the girl doesn’t die during this. If she dies, I will personally come and skin both of you alive… slowly. Got it?”

“Y...y-yes, sir. We will do that, Dr. Clef… sir…” The guards swallowed loudly and were visibly shaken. Clef straightened up and smiled, “Good.” He slammed his hands onto both guard’s shoulders, “Good, good… don’t fail me~~!” As he left he sang the last part in A-Major (ukelele), his true name. Showing to the guards how serious he was.

~~~

You felt a chill go up your spine, a growing uncomfortableness sitting in your gut. You told Fox quietly you were going to look away for a moment. When he said ok, you looked up to the observation room knowing someone was watching. You had a guess who it was, the feeling was similar to being in that office with that man… Dr. Clef. You continued staring up until Fox said he needed to blink, so you looked back to 173. As soon as you looked, you let out a surprised yelp… 173 had moved from facing the walk to facing you. It wasn’t closer, thankfully, but it was still “looking” at you.  
Scar looked at you with a little bit of surprise then looked to 173. His face turned red seeing it had moved a little, “You fucking idiot! You’re supposed to wait until she says she’s looking!” Scar shouted at Fox.

“I-I’m sorry! I-” 

“Guys, I’m ok, I’m not dead so…”

“But you could have! And it would’ve been my fault… I’m sorry.”

“You’re ok, I’m ok… let’s just get this done.” You sighed, wanting to close your eyes but knowing better of it. Scar continued cleaning and started angrily mumbling to himself. You didn’t know it, but you weren’t in danger anymore. You were 100% safe, and it was all thanks to Dr. Clef.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! I may take a short break, I think I might be suffering from burnout? I'm not sure honestly, but I wanted to let you guys know instead of just disappearing and thinking that I abandoned this work. Again, thanks for reading. Hopefully, I'll get past the burnout quickly because I want to continue writing this story and I'm really enjoying sharing it with you guys. Anyway, hopefully see you soon!


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back and ready to write! I may just cancel doing chapter postings on Tuesdays as a regular thing and just do it when I feel like it or when I have the content to post. So, Fridays will begin again! Thank you for waiting for my return!

It was kind of funny, you thought at least, that during the whole cleaning process Scar and Fox continuously bickered back and forth mostly about nothing. Scar would comment on how little Fox was doing then Fox would come back with, “at least I’m not covered in shit and blood,” which made you snort a bit. But, after finally finishing up, the guards came over the speaker, “please, proceed to back towards the containment door. Do not take your eyes off 173 until the door is shut.”  
You and Fox stood side by side and Scar stood in front of both of you. A sudden wave of so many emotions came over you, almost overwhelming your attention to 173. You couldn’t really make sense of it, you had only known Fox and Scar for almost a week but you felt you could trust them. Scar oddly felt like a father figure, even though he wanted to kill you _because_ of your actual father figure. And Fox… Fox felt like a familiar person, a name you couldn’t grasp, but he was also different from that person.  
Scar began backing up, forcing you and Fox to as well. Every step you took back brought anxiety into your throat and deep pressure in your chest. You wanted to give a quiet scream every time you took a step, but the anxiety caught it at your throat. You did, however, let out a small squeak of surprise when the door slid shut and sealed as you could’ve sworn you saw 173 move the slightest bit.  
After the door hissed the guards came over the speaker, “don’t move, some security personnel are coming down to get you three.” You look over at Scar, trying to see his reactions and read them to figure out what to do exactly. Scare let go of the mop handle and put his hands out then clasping them together with an annoyed sigh to accompany his gestures. You followed his actions, as did Fox.  
The door up the stairs beeped and 4 armed security came down quickly, one with a gun in hand. Three of the security went to each of you and put cuffs on. You noticed the guards were wearing thick gloves and gas masks, like an incomplete hazmat get up. They probably didn’t want to touch any of you after the cleaning process. Speaking of, they hadn’t even asked any of you to strip off the hazmat gear…   
After being cuffed, they guided you up the stairs first, then Scar, and finally Fox. Each security officer took their assigned d-class down the hall, though the fourth security officer stayed with you and your assigned guard. _Weird… why do I have two and the others have one? Wouldn’t the guys require more security than me_? If only you knew…  
The guards took everyone down the opposite way you came, walking past the elevator to a reception desk. Behind the desk sat a young man, he looked in his late 20s, long black hair tied back into a messy bun. He looked up from his work, his dark brown eyes looking between all of you then to a security officer that stepped up to the desk. 

“What can I do you for, Miles?”

The security officer gave an annoyed sigh, “need the paperwork for private quarters for the night for these… three d-class,” Miles gestured to everyone.

“Of course, ooone second…” The receptionist rolled his chair back to a filing cabinet. He opened up the bottom drawer and rifled through it for a bit. “Ah-ha! Here we are,” he rolled back over and put the paperwork onto the counter of his desk in front of Miles. The receptionist gave a sly smile and leaned towards Miles, speaking as quietly as he could, “what do I get in return, Miles? Hmm?”

The guard stuttered, “wha? I-Well- I uh, shut up, Soren. We’ll discuss that later, you ass.” Miles grabbed the paperwork and turned away as Soren snickered at his reaction. You had to keep in your laughter at the blatant flirting and embarrassment. Miles stood at your side again and began walking towards the elevator, causing the other guards to push everyone forwards.  
Miles swiped his card, opening the elevator door with a loud beep. All of you were pushed in, the guards following after. Miles stayed outside the elevator and looked at the biggest security officer. “Take these three down to the private quarters, I’m going to go do this paperwork quick then-”

“Yeah, sure, you’re gunna do the _’paperwork’_.” One the guard snickered and teased.

Miles took his mask off and shot the guard a glare, you could see he was blushing, “Shut the fuck up, Bennet.” He sighed then continued, “after I’m done with the paperwork I’ll be coming down to check things out. Remember what Clef said. I’ll be reporting back to him.” The three guards immediately stiffened up at the mention of Clef, you just felt queasy hearing his name. _Is that normal? Does Clef usually deal with this stuff? Why did the guards react that way_? You had too many questions running through your mind and not enough answers. Though, one was answered by Scar mumbling ‘why the fuck is Clef mixed into this?’

~~

After the trip down the elevator and going through multiple security checkpoints, you finally arrived at a door with, you guessed it, another keycard machine. The guard named Bennet swiped his card through, the light on the machine turning green and the door clicking to signal it being unlocked. He opened the door, inside the room was three beds separated by curtains hanging from the ceiling. Not only that, but there was also a couch, a desk, a table with chairs, and another door on the right wall. You guessed it was a bathroom of sorts, which is awesome.   
Bennet gestured into the room, “go.” Scar went in first, you following after, and Fox after you. You and Fox were physically hesitant about going in, it felt like a trap in all honesty. The door shut behind Fox and clicked locked, and just as that happened a green light flickered in the corner of the room. You looked over to see a camera watching all of you, a shudder going through your body. You didn’t like being watched by some unseen person, it felt like an invasion of your being.  
Scar made a grunting sound as he got out of his hazmat gear, he was very careful how he held the thing as he took it to a small silver door in the left sidewall. He grabbed the handle and slid it open and quickly threw his gear into it. He looked over at you and Fox, “well? Are you guys just gunna stand there in your disgusting gear or what?” As soon as he said that you began getting out of your own gear then did the same as Scar did.  
Scar stretched and walked to the door on the right wall, “well I call dibs on the shower first, after all, I dealt with the shit and blood.” You could tell the last part was directed at Fox which made you laugh a little, “alright… well… we’ll be here, not like we can go anywhere else.” Scar gave a chuckle as he opened the door and walked in.  
As soon as the door was shut, Fox began to wander around the room, going to the desk last. He was looking at the desk and started messing with, what you guessed, some pencils and/or pens. He opened the center drawer and dug around for a bit before making a small happy surprised sound, then he slid it shut. He turned slightly to the right and pocketed something, you guessed he was hiding whatever he grabbed from the camera.  
Fox turned to you, “hey… uh I wanted to ask you… about what happened before. When you were crying, I mean.”

“Oh… well… I-I think it was a memory or something.” You walked over to one of the beds and sat down, Fox following behind you. “I’m really not sure, I guess…”

“A memory? What do you mean? You don’t remember things?”

“Well… I’m beginning to think… there’s a lot of points, right now, that I don’t remember…I was in a coma for a year though I’m remembering things that happened while I was supposedly in it and I’m starting to think that was a lie… Also, I don’t remember what happened the night my parents died.” You looked at your arm, the scars fully visible with your sleeves rolled up. Fox sat next to you on the bed and looked at your arms. There was a long silence before he spoke, “Heads… I’m sorry…” He touched your scars on your right arm gently, a shudder running through your body.

“It’s not your fault… I don’t know if it is anyone’s fault… though I blame myself anyway, of course.”

“You shouldn’t though, you seem like a really good person.”

“You flatter me, Fox, but… I feel lost none the less… good person or not.”

He grabbed your hand gently, “Heads, you should take it lighter on yourself… you’re innocent, you know that.” He looked you in the eyes, “and I believe that. I think… you’re a really amazing person.” You felt a rush of warmth go through your body, heat flowing to your cheeks. _Is this happening? Fuck I think this is happening_. Both of you leaned in towards each other, your lips meeting gently. It was a soft and gentle kiss but slowly turned harder. He leaned into you more as you slowly laid back, your kisses becoming sloppy as you brought up your hand to his face.

“Oi, what the fuck are you two doing?!” You both jumped, Fox standing up quickly. Scar was standing there, hair wet and a towel around his neck. He glared at Fox, “what the **fuck** do you think you’re doing!” His anger wasn’t at you or both of you, it was only directed at Fox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any advice and/or critique is welcomed, but if it's critique... please be gentle on me, I am sensitive ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double posting this week! Consider it a gift for you guys waiting on me to come back ^u^  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter ψ(｀∇´)ψ

You’ve never seen someone so angry before, Scar’s eyes conveyed a sense of _’I’m going to fucking kill you’_ and it was terrifying. Scar began to take slow steps forward, hands clenched to the point of having white knuckles. In response, Fox stood up quickly and put his hand in his pocket… the one he put something in before talking to you. “Look, calm down, we can talk this out, can’t we?” Fox stuttered out frantically.

“Talk this out? _Talk this out_?! Who the fuck do you think you are?!” He suddenly pointed at you but kept his eyes on Fox, “you were-!”

“Shut up! Like you fucking actually care, you tried hurting her when you first met her!” Fox still had his hand in his pocket which began to make you nervous that he might actually have something to stab Scar with. Scar looked at you, his eyes getting softer, “I did try to hurt her… and I’m sorry for that, Heads.” The sudden apology took you off guard, but… it made your heart feel warm and happy.  
Scar snapped his eyes back to Fox, the rage returning to his demeanor, “but, **_you_**! You… oh, you… I’m going to fucking kill you and enjoy it.” Before Fox could register it, Scar lunged at him and took him down to the floor. The sudden movement made you stand up quickly and back away from the tussling.  
Scar began to punch Fox repeatedly in the face, it was so brutal that the cut on Fox’s face reopened. Scars fist was covered in blood, you must’ve been here too long because all you could think was, _Scar **just** showered and now he’s getting blood everywhere_. You honestly had no idea what you could do, you were too small to break up the fight and even if you could, you probably wouldn’t be able to keep them apart for long.  
Suddenly, a red light started flashing and alarms started going off. Scar didn’t seem to care and continued beating Fox, harder than before actually. Fox finally got what he had in his pocket out and stabbed Scar in the side twice. Scar yelled out a bit before grabbing Fox’s wrist and forcing it to the ground causing the object Fox had to skid across the floor. You could see blood-covered scissors causing you to cover your mouth at the realization that Scar could be seriously hurt from those. You didn’t know who to be worried about the most, you cared about both of them and they both were obviously hurt. You were about to run over to them to try and break up the fight when a bunch of security ran in with guns out.  
There were six security guards, all them preoccupied with breaking the fight up. You just stood there, unsure of what to do and afraid to move until Miles came in. He walk-ran over to you and grabbed the back of your jumpsuit on the neck. He then proceeded to drag you out angrily and take you to a neighboring room. He scanned his card while muttering to himself about how stupid people are. The door slid open, the room was similar to the previous one except there was only one bed. He shoved you in and sighed, “stay, not as if you could go anywhere, but he’ll deal with you later.” You were about to ask ‘ _who_ ’ but the door slid shut before you could. _Well then… I guess… I’ll just go shower then_.

~~

Miles walked into the security room to see how things were going with the three D-Class. “How’re things going?” He asked, looking at the monitors. He noticed the three assigned rooms were empty which worried him. He looked around frantically on all the monitors until seeing D-8490 and D-9633 together in the same room. “What the fuck… what the fuck?! Why did you put them all together, you idiots?!”

“Oh uh, sorry sir, we didn’t know where you wanted us to put them so we put them in there temporarily,” a guard responded. Bennet hit the guard and pointed to the screen, “look! Look! Look what D-8490 is doing!”

“Fuck! Fucking god damn it! Clef is going to fucking kill me! Clef-!”

“Wait, look, D-6137 cut in! … oh uh… this isn’t good,” Bennet mumbled.

“No fucking shit you fucking idiot! Oh fuck, now look! He’s beating the shit out of D-8490…” Miles couldn’t believe these idiots. The other guard hit the alarm button casually.

“Well, to be honest, he kind of deserves it.”

“Yeah, but- **Oh fuck** , he stabbed him! Alright, we need to stop this right now. Call more security!” Miles started for the door before it slid open, Clef was standing there with his stupid smile, “how’s it goin’?”

“Oh fuck!” Miles jumped back a bit in surprise, “oh uh… things are fiiine, yeah… all is well, no need to worry!”

Clef raised an eyebrow, “no need to worry, huh? Then why is the alarm going off, mind answering that?”

“Oh uh… these idiots put the three D-Class together in one room and well… D-8490 was-”

“Ah, A fight then? You go and stop the fight and get D-9633 to her private room and while you’re doing that, I’ll be watching the film back. Afterward, I’ll deal with her.” Miles stood there dumbfounded for a moment, _god damn, Clef is a fucking weirdo_. “Uh… yes, sir…” Miles said hesitantly. Six guards ran by and after squeezing by Clef and avoiding his gaze, he followed after them.

~~

You weren’t sure what to do with yourself after that whole fiasco. You just stared at the door and blinked for a bit before going to take a shower. Walking into the bathroom, you noticed how clean it was compared to the community showers. There was a fresh soap bar, shampoo _and_ conditioner, clean crisp towels, and clean clothes. The clothes weren’t like the jumpsuit, they were actual sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. You smiled at the clothes and then looked at yourself in the mirror, seeing yourself immediately made you frown. You were extremely disheveled, your eyes looked exhausted and the bags under your eyes reinforcing that feeling.  
You sighed at yourself and unzipped your jumpsuit. The sight of your chest tattoo immediately made you upset, you hated seeing it. You looked away from the mirror and walked to the shower door. You were just stepping in when you swore you heard the door to the room slide open. You looked back to the bathroom door and waited, but nothing happened. _Must’ve been my imagination…_ you got into the shower and started it up. Unlike the community showers, you didn’t have to fight the knobs to get hot water. It felt refreshing to take a nice hot shower, even more so with the shampoo and conditioner as the community showers only had a 3-in-1 soap.  
After enjoying the shower for longer than necessary, you got out and dried yourself off and got dressed. You continued to dry your hair as you walked out of the bathroom and hummed to yourself. “Well, it took you long enough,” a familiar voice said. Your eyes snapped open and immediately met Dr. Clef’s. You felt like you were in danger and threw your towel at him as your brain thought throwing the towel at him would somehow save you. “That’s a bit rude. Is that any way to greet an old friend?” He said while dodging the towel.

“I don’t know you! Leave me alone.”

“Ouch, that really hurts, Dr. Bailey. No memories of me yet?”

“What the fuck? Leave me the fuck alone you goddamn weirdo.”

“Oof, why would you injure me so, you know it’s not very lady-like to swear so much.”

“Shut the fuck up and leave. I want to rest.”

“Mm, telling me what to do now, are we?” He walked closer to you giving you the urge to run but you did your best to stand your ground. “Ah, still strong-headed as always, aren’t you? You know… I could easily just kill you or your friends with almost no repercussions.” His eyes were half-lidded, a stupid, yet scary, smirk on his face.

“I… fuck you, kill me, or whatever, I don’t care. Just… not my friends…” your voice slowly got quieter as you spoke, Clef’s eyes slowly opening fully as you did so. He leaned in closer to you causing you to let out a scared peep sound.

“Hmph… disregard for your life for some random D-Classes? You continue to confuse me.” He was silent for a moment before smiling widely, “you know, I know what happened to your parents. Tragic really, they were good scientists…”

“You… you know what happened to them? What happened to them? Please tell me!”

“ _You_ happened,” he let out a sinister and cruel laugh in response to your face turning from hope to anger. You couldn’t hold the anger in at all, not when it dealt with your parents, so you slapped him as hard as you possibly could. In fact, you hit him so hard that his hat fell off.  
He kept his head the direction you slapped it in and stared down at his hat. Clef then slowly turned his head to you causing a gasp to come out at the sight of his third eye. He looked slightly surprised and a little angry and after staring at you for a bit, he looked back at his hat and spoke, “well… look what you did now.”  
He immediately advanced on you causing you to back away until your butt hit the desk. He didn’t stop though and ended up pushing you up onto the desk until your back was against the wall so you were sitting on the desk. He managed to worm his way between your legs and leaned in close to your face. He was so close you could feel his breath on your cheek as you turned your head away from him. He slammed his left hand onto the wall next to your head then grabbed your chin, forcing you to look at him. His eye _s_ were on yours but slowly went down to your lips. He rubbed his thumb on your bottom lip gently, “still nothing, eh? Why don’t you remember? ...How about I remind you then.” At that, your heart lept into your throat and you felt yourself freeze.  
He forcefully kissed you while his right hand slowly went down, tracing your neck with his fingertip all the way down to the bottom hem of your shirt. Your eyes widened at the realization of what was happening, a frantic pressure to get away began building up in your body. You began to raise your right hand up slowly, trying not to draw attention to it.  
Clef kissed you deeper as his hand slid under your shirt. You felt his rough hand on your breast and then his calloused fingers squeezing your nipple. You put your hand on his chest and pushed him but he didn’t budge, he just ground himself closer to you. He stopped kissing you and started his head down your neck, breathing warmly on it on the way down to the crook of your neck. “Sto-,” you started saying but his left hand covered your mouth quickly and pushed in a way to expose your neck more. Clef went in, opened his mouth, revealing very sharp teeth, and bit down. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to where it hurt. As he bit you he then tweaked your nipple in a way causing you to moan out and grab the back of his head. He pulled away from you and looked surprised before giving a sly smile, “wow, did you really just moaned?” He started to laugh so hard he wheezed a bit.  
You sat there in shock, your face bright red from embarrassment. He sighed and wiped a tear from his eye, “I can’t believe you fell for that! Fuck man, it’s fun messing with you all over again.”

“What… _the fuck_ … was that?! What are you even talking about?! I don’t know you!”

“Mhm, it’ll come back eventually.” He said as he bent down and picked his hat up. He smacked his hat a bit, getting invisible dust off of it, and turned to you. You noticed he didn’t have a boner at all, like that what happened was something normal. You then realized you were staring at his crotch and turned even more red as you looked back up to his eyes. He chuckled as he went to put his hat on, he probably saw you staring, his third eye giving you a wink, “see ya around, Ms Bailey.” And with that, he left the room, leaving you sitting on the desk dumbfounded about what just happened. As you got off the desk, you looked up to a green light in the corner and saw the camera. You stared for a moment before flipping it off and going to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe yeah!....... Anyhoo, let me know what you thought about this chapter! Just wait until the next chapter ¬‿¬


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is 3:40 am... I have no patience to wait until noon. I want to see what you guys think about this chapter... and your reaction. Hehe, enjoy   
> ←～（o ｀▽´ )oΨ

You couldn’t stop thinking about what Clef was saying about knowing who you are and knowing what happened to your parents. But, you also couldn’t stop thinking about what just happened and what he did. _What the fuck was that? Why would he do any of that to me? Why did I moan, what the fuck? **It was kind of hot though.** Oh my fucking god, shut up, for fuck sakes_.  
You laid there in bed, sprawled out, and staring at the ceiling in absolute silence. The lights turned off in the room, surprising you slightly, though the little green light was still on. You got out of bed and blindly felt around in the dark for the curtain surrounding the bed until you finally grabbed the end. You pulled the curtain around the bed, finally getting some privacy from the stupid camera. You grabbed the blanket from the bed and threw it open to lie down. The bed was more comfortable than the women’s holding block’s was, softer too.  
You snuggled down into the bed, wrapped yourself in the blanket, and slowly closed your eyes. _To bad this is only a one-day thing……… maybe I can do something to stay… like… maybe Clef… wou-_ , and with that being your last thought, you fell asleep.

~~

“Psst, wake up,” said a voice, causing you to jolt upright. You looked around frantically for the source of the voice, but you saw nothing or no one. You breathed a sigh of relief thinking it must have been in your head… until you looked to your left and saw three, what seemed to be glowing, eyes. You yelped in surprise and started scooting away, almost falling off the bed if it weren’t for _him_ grabbing your shirt to stop you.  
Your head was swirling with questions. How did he get in here without you hearing the door open? Why did he come back while you were sleeping? What more did he want from you? He smiled widely, his sharp teeth almost glowing in the dark. He was more or less a shadow figure with his eyes and teeth being the only thing you could see clearly. “W-what… do… What do you w-want?” You managed to stutter out, your voice obviously shaking.

“Shh shh shhhh…” Clef pulled you closer to him and put his finger to your lips. “Just be quiet… Do you think I wasn’t bothered after our encounter, Ms. Bailey?” He pulled you even closer to him and leaned into your ear, breathing out which caused a tingle to go through your body “What do I want…? You,” he rumbled out from deep in his chest.  
A bolt of multiple sensations when through your body; fear, flight, fight, warmth, and uh… oh. You cursed yourself for getting turned on by this… weirdo saying stupid smut-like shit. _This is like some corny fanfiction scenario_ , you thought to yourself before being interrupted by a sudden deep kiss from Clef. He slowly let go of your shirt while laying you down onto the bed gently, which surprised you considering how rough he was earlier. But, the gentleness didn’t last very long, he grabbed your right wrist and pinned it above your head, holding tightly. Clef got onto the bed and on top of you in one fluid motion while keeping your right arm above you. Did you want this? What did you want? You didn’t know what to do or what you wanted, so… you just laid there, thinking.  
Clef kissed you again, this time you hesitantly kissed him back to test the waters of what you wanted. _Maybe…_ you thought to yourself. His right hand trailed down your body until reaching the waist of your pants. He made a pleased sound as he kissed you then slid his hand into your pants. He sat up slightly, looking at your face for a reaction as he moved his hand down closer to your pussy. He moved a little again to get more of his arm down your pants until you felt his hand on you causing you to make a small ‘oh’ sound.

Clef smiled a little more and pressed onwards. You felt his finger enter you and his thumb pressing on your clit. _Do I want this…_? He moved his thumb slowly and methodically bringing a jolt of pleasure throughout your body. _Yes! Yes, I do! It’s been forever_! You moaned out, a small quiet ‘yes’ coming out with it. You looked at Clef, his eyes were half-lidded and his smile was wider like he won something.

Clef moved his hand back out of your pants and grabbed the waistband, pulling your pants, and panties, down quickly and taking them off as he moved back on the bed. You watched him as he leaned back in a sitting kneel and began taking his belt off. And though you couldn’t see well in the dark, you couldn’t take your eyes off of his movements, waiting with bated breath. After he finished with the belt, he slowly looked up to you as he was pulling his pants down and, again, looked to you for a reaction. You inwardly gasped seeing his cock pop out of his boxers, seeing it was even more confirmation for you that this was indeed happening.

His dick was huge, bigger than you thought it would be, and it had a very slight curve… _all the more stimulating_ is all you could think besides ‘ _let’s go, go go go go, come on get moving_ ’! Maybe you were too eager for this…? Clef gave a very wide smile at your reaction, it would have been threatening if not for the current situation. After that, he began moving quickly. He pulled a ukulele from… somewhere(?) and gently set it on the bedside table, then proceeded to take off his shirt, throwing his, and your, pants off the side of the bed, and moved up your body and took your shirt off for you. You realized you haven’t moved much since he let go of your arm and he was doing everything himself… you kind of liked it, in all honesty.  
Any semblance of thoughts coming to you was cut off when Clef grabbed your legs and ‘forced’ them open, making you gasped in surprise. Clef leaned forward and down, his hand following down and holding your thighs open. You could feel him looking at you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at what he was doing out of embarrassment. Why were you embarrassed? You had no idea, maybe because it’s been more than a year since you’ve got any action.  
You gasped again feeling Clef slide two of his fingers into you slowly and doing the ‘come hither’ motion. You moan out, gripping the covers in your left hand and squeezing your pillow next to your head. “There we are…” Clef spoke in a soft deep voice. He continued fingering you for a little while, getting you close to your peak before moving his hand away. You let out a whine of disappointment and a long exasperated sigh, which made him chuckle deeply.  
He grabbed your legs roughly and yanked you towards him causing you to look at him in surprise, “oh, now you look at me?” He hunched down over you, grabbing your right wrist and pinning it down again. Clef looked at you in the eyes, a deep intense lust residing behind them. Clef put himself against you and proceeded to grind against you, eliciting small moans of approval. Clef moved his right hand towards your face and spoke, “look at this… you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” You looked and saw the slickness on his fingers, seeing it made you turn bright red to the point you felt hot… or maybe it was just all the sexual tension? “N-no… nh… I-I’m not, sh-ut up…”

He laughed, sat up and, while maintaining eye contact, brought his fingers to his mouth, licking them slowly. “Mhm, sure… mm, that’s good… might have to go down on you some other time…” His voice was hot and heavy, bringing out a rush of feeling through your chest.

“S-shut up, you weirdo.”

“Ouch, name-calling isn’t very nice, you know,” Clef reached down and grabbed his dick, rubbing it up and down and teasing you. “Maybe I should punish you for being so rude and mean to me in our every encounter.”

“Mmm… Oh m-my god, shu-!” He slammed into you, cutting you off as a moan escaped your throat. He pulled out slightly, grabbed your left wrist, and pinned that one above your head like your right arm. Clef leaned down over you, your chests touching as his head goes into the crook of your neck. As soon as he was where he wanted to be, he pushed himself back into you slowly. Once he met a little resistance he pushed even harder, the feeling made you struggling to move your arms. You wanted to desperately grip onto him, but every time struggled he held on tighter.

“Mnnn… you want to move, don’t you, you poor little thing.” Clef moved to your ear and growled into it, “you get to move when I decide to let you move, got that?” He bit your earlobe gently, the feeling of his voice and breathing in your ear sending shivers through your body.

Clef began thrusting into you slowly and methodically, you were still struggling a little but the pleasure was starting to override it. “Mmm! Fuck! Nnn… let me m-move, please! Fu-uck you!” You tried to wiggle your arms loose but to no avail, in fact, all you got in response was a bite to your neck. You moaned loudly, pushing your hips towards his in desperation. It was almost too much and he could tell you were getting closer.

He began to speed up his movements, licked the spot he bit you at, and started to slowly let go of your wrists, “Nnnnm… fuck fuck fuck… ahhh… please!” As soon as you felt that you had enough room, you slipped your arms away and wrapped them around his neck. Clef started going at a faster speed, you also could feel he was close. And at this point you didn’t have any restraint, “kiss me you fucking idiot!” Clef said nothing but immediately kissed you deeply. The kiss became making out in desperation as you both edged nearer to the big finish.

Clef pulled away from the kiss and went to the crook of your neck again, “fuck… I’m going t-to…”

“A-ahhh! Jus-t fucking d-do it!” You dug your nails into his back, leaving deep scratch marks everywhere, some of which start bleeding. You guessed you didn’t need to tell him twice as he grunted and pushed himself as deep as possible, pleasure shooting through you like lightning. You screamed out ‘yes’, wrapping your legs around him and not letting him go. You could feel the pulsating, the warmth, the sudden sharp sting as Clef bit into the crook of your neck, and the warmth of the blood running down your shoulder. He stayed there, keeping his mouth locked on your shoulder, and he stayed inside you.

You began to notice something felt off; you couldn’t come down from your orgasm, you didn’t feel actual pain when Clef bit you, and… he kept cumming. It wouldn’t stop, you started to feel the pressure building up, granted it was kind of hot, but it was starting to get uncomfortable. As you were noticing the oddities you felt your orgasm ramp up a second time causing you to moan.

~~

Your eyes snapped open and you immediately grabbed the hand that was shaking you like you were going to break it, then you remember what happened last night. You snapped your eyes to the source of the hand, it was Miles and he looked extremely embarrassed. _Wait… was it him?! No… no, it couldn’t be… he’s gay. Wait, was that even real_? You took your hand away from his and touched your neck, searching for the bite, but there was nothing there.  
You looked down at your clean white pillow, no blood. You grabbed the top of your head, “AAAAugh hh _hmmmmmmmm **MMMMM**_!!!” 

“Uh… are you good, D-9633?”

You blinked a couple of times, remembering Miles was in the room, “oh uh…” You gave him an awkward attempt at a smile, “what… what was I doing before I woke up?”

Immediately after asking that, Miles turned red again, “you were… ahem… uh… moaning…?”

“Ouff,” you put your face in your hands and slowly pulled them down your face. “Is it possible… to meet Clef? Like a discussion meeting or whatever.”

Miles made a confused face, “well normally he doesn’t bother meeting any D-Class unless they’re going to die by his hands or by an scp’s hands, but he seems…” he suddenly straightened up and recomposed himself. “All of that is classified, but I will put in your request to him directly. I came in here to wake you up, breakfast is being served. A menu is at the table, please use the phone on the wall to put in your order. Oh, and you will be sent back to the D-Class holding area at the end of the day, so enjoy this while it lasts.

“Thank you very much,” you gave him a worried awkward smile as he left and waved. “Uh, have a good day?” Miles looked back slightly, he looked even more confused by your friendliness than he did with you asking to meet Clef. _Speaking of which… I’m going to fucking kill the bastard_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, this is literally the first time I've written smut (・_・;) so I'm sorry if it's bad or cringy... if you skipped through the smut, that's ok. The smut isn't necessarily integral to the story but it is mentioned by the reader a couple of times later on.
> 
> Chapter 15! Ok, chapter 15 will be a long one, if I finish it before Tuesday I'll post it, but no promises.
> 
> I'm thinking of just posting whenever I want, but also I want structure? I will continue on my regular posting Fridays (sometimes Tuesdays) until College starts (Aug 25th) then Tuesdays won't see any chapter uploads. Mon, Wed, and Friday are when I'm free so hopefully, Friday will stay regular and Mondays and Wednesdays will be possible bonus chapter posts.
> 
> "Anyhoot", sorry for the ramble! I'd love to hear any theories you have about the fic! Thank you for reading, I do (try) to reply to all comments!


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I was so eager to post this episode that I stayed up until 2 am to post this. That way I would be posting it on Friday really early ¬‿¬  
> WARNING THO:  
> \----THERE IS VIOLENT CHOKING----

You were sitting at the table reading some random book you found in the desk while waiting for your food to come. It was actually a book about psychology, which you thought was really weird for this being a supposed ‘D-Class private suite’, but nonetheless… it was still something to do. You set the book down and looked at the door and then the clock, it’d been an hour since you ordered your food and you were starving. The ticking of the clock was reminding you how little time you had left to spend by yourself, well… you looked to the camera, mostly by yourself at least. And the hum of electricity was reminding you just how trapped you were here.  
You began to dissolve into your thoughts of self-pity when you were brought back by the sound of the door sliding open. You looked over, hopeful for food, but you only saw Miles, “Oh… hi…” You spoke in a heavily disappointed tone, which earned you a confused and almost offended look in return, “uh, hello to you too? It took a long time, but,” he stepped back into the hall and pushed a cart with food on it into the room, “here what you ordered.”

You had to hold back laughter at seeing this huge scary security guard pushing a little service cart, “pff… thank you!”

“What? What’s so funny?” Miles crossed his arms, trying to be tough, but you finally saw past his facade… he was a big teddy bear. You stood up and walked over to get your food, Miles instinctively put his hand on his gun and you knew you shouldn’t be offended or hurt by this action… but you were.

“This looks really good…” you picked up the plate and cup of juice, sipping the juice as you walked over to the table. You saw Miles relax and follow you over to the table as you sat down. You took a bite out of your omelet and immediately felt better than you had in months. You were eating quickly, at least faster than normal, as you spoke “did you get the chance to ask Clef about a meeting?”

“I did, it took some time to get him to listen to me, but once he heard it was you he agreed to a meeting… what is your relationship with him, if I may ask?”

“Pffft, wrelashion ship?” You realized you were talking with your mouth full, so you swallowed your food and continued, “I don’t have any relationship with him, I hate him.”

“Well… the reason I ask is because of the… the really weird encounter between you two?”

You felt your face turn bright red, “ah… that… right… that part was real.” You said quietly. “Don’t ask me, I have no idea. I slapped him and he sexually assaulted me, and I’m guessing I can’t report that to anyone because I’m ‘a lowly D-Class’ and my thoughts and feelings don’t matter.”

“Unfortunately so… er- I mean, yes.” You were confused by his sudden show of empathetic emotion but thought best to not prod at him about it. “Anyway, I will be coming to get you after lunch-time. I-... I do apologize about the food being so late, the cooks stopped serving breakfast before I could get down there and the bastards ate your food since no one showed to get it. Anyway, I made the food for you, so enjoy,” he tried his hardest to sound annoyed that he had to make your food. 

You smiled up at him, “really? Thank you so much, it’s really good!” Miles reeled back slightly at your response but quickly recovered his monotonic energy, “you are welcome, I will arrive at 15:00 to take you to the meeting with Clef. Be prepared to depart as there will be no waiting, good-bye.” 

You watched him leave, pushing the little service cart in front of him. After the door closed, you scarfed your food down quickly. You were too hungry to care about getting an upset stomach, plus the food was delicious as all hell. You wondered if Miles enjoyed cooking and did it often, you wished you could ask him to cook for you again but… you were just a D-Class, a person on borrowed time. The thought made you sad all over again. Why did this all happen? Did you live some crazy life before your coma or… did your coma even happen? You shook your head at that thought, _my parents wouldn't lie to me like that... Would they_? The thought of your parents brought on the thought about Scar… _wait, Scar and Fox! Shit! How could I just forget about them_!?

You stood up, grabbing your empty plate and quickly taking it to the metal shoot in the wall. You were so lost in worry that you just put the plate in without looking and not long after you dropped it in there, you heard the plate shatter somewhere below you. You flinched and cursed yourself while pacing back and forth. _What am I going to do? Are they ok? I feel like it was my fault for starting it_? _**No, I didn’t start anything, it just happened and it was bound to happen eventually**_ , you reassured yourself. As you paced you kept going over what happened again and again, trying to find out what event spurred it. But, you couldn’t think of anything besides the kissing or just Scar hating Fox.

You could feel the stress and anxiety building up causing you to mindlessly scratch at your arms. You were only brought back by the sting of accidentally cutting yourself with your nail. Looking down at the scratch, it looked like a cat snagged your skin a little bit. You gave a long exasperated sigh all the way to the desk and grunted when you sat down heavily into the chair. _What am I even going to do for the next 5 hours_?

You opened the drawers in the desk and looked through everything they held, which wasn’t much. You grabbed a small sketch pad and a well-sharpened pencil sitting in the center drawer. You opened the sketch pad and paused, pencil hovering just a bit away from leaving a mark. The clock ticked above you as you thought of what to draw, you closed your eyes trying to concentrate on the feeling of your pencil in hand and ‘activate’ your imagination. You started to feel something deep in your brain buzz and hum, a muffled sound slowly drawing you out of your concentration.

_You opened your eyes and looked at a man sitting behind a desk with his feet up on it. “Well, how is this pose then?” The man spoke, a smile spreading on his face._

_“No, that still doesn’t work. I can’t see it at all from here,” you said giving an annoyed sigh. You’ve been at this for an hour or more by now, you knew he was doing this on purpose. He was trying to distract you and prolong your presence in his office, well it was working but it was incredibly annoying. “Sir, I just want to draw the SCP and move on to the next one.”_

_“Aw, but why draw it when I’m right here?” The man took his feet off the desk and scooted up to it. He put his hand together and rested his head against one side of his hand, then made a pouty face._

_You resisted the urge to chortle and to leave, “because… umm.”_

_“Mm, good response. I see I took your words away with my charm,” he gave a small smile and a pleased sigh._

_You rolled your eyes. “Sir, that’s really unprofessional. Pl-”_

_“‘Unprofessional’? Do you know who you're even talking to?”_

_“Unfortunately yes, I do know, because you’re my boss. Now, would you pl-”_

_“Oh come on, answer my question! Why draw it when I’m right here?” He tilted his head and looked at you with curiosity._

_You were beginning to get irritated by his constant interruptions but answered him nonetheless, “fine! I’d rather draw **it** than you because… well…” You looked away from him and down to the paper, “because you’re a person… not an SCP like that thing.” You didn’t look up from the sketchbook, you didn’t really want to get in trouble in the first week of your employment at The Foundation._

_Suddenly, you became acutely aware of the heavy atmosphere that had settled in the room. The feeling made you slowly look up at him, only to see him staring at you with an intensity you didn’t think he was capable of. The heavy atmosphere became full of a weird sense of tension between the two of you. “I-I’m sorr-,” you began._

_He interrupted you by putting his hand and closed his eyes. The silence in the room intensified the ticking of the clock, which was the only sound for the longest time until the man took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked at you, it looked like he had been crying while his eyes were shut. He noticed you looking and averted his eyes for a moment before looking back at you.  
He reached down and put his hand on the box chain around his neck and sort of laughed but it also sounded like cry. “Ok… you can draw it… **but** , you have to go on a date with me.”_

_“W-what!?.... Mmm” you hummed angrily. “You know what? Fine, fine, yeah, I’ll go on a date with you. Just let me draw it.” He smiled victoriously and took the SCP off, then he held it out. You knew better to touch it, so you just started drawing it while he held in in his palm._

You opened your eyes in shock, you _did_ work in this place… You looked down at your paper, about to draw the SCP you saw before you forgot, only to see you had already drawn it. You gasped, it was exactly how you saw it in the… memory? All you could do was stare at the drawing, trying to trigger any more memories, but none came to you no matter how intensely you stared.

~~~

You sat up in bed when you heard the door slide open, _has it really been 5 hours? Damn_. Miles was standing by the door and looking at you, “come on, Dr. Clef isn’t someone you want to keep waiting.” You nodded and got out of the bed and started walking towards him but then remembered the drawing. You quickly turned around and grabbed the sketch pad, you needed to ask him about this SCP.

“Uhm… hey, Miles, right?” You said hesitantly.

“Yup,” he responded while digging his cuffs off his belt.

“Can I ask you something? I… I was wondering about what this SCP is? I think I remembered something or… I don’t know,” you timidly gave him the drawing you did, though for some reason you didn't want to let it go.

“Hmm…” he looked at the drawing for a second before doing a double-take. “Wait, how do you know this SCP?”

“Well… I don’t know exactly. I just think I had a memory of it?”

“A memory…? What the fuck…,” he spoke softly. He took the picture from you, folded it up, and put it in his pocket. “Let’s get moving,” he put the cuffs on you.

“But, the SCP! What is it?”

“You have no clearance for any information. If you really want to know, ask Clef about it.”

You sighed in irritation as he took you out of the room, which you’ll miss. You want to stay there but you refuse to ask Clef for a favor of any kind in fear of what he might want in return. You hadn’t thought about what you were going to say exactly or how to bring up but not bring up the dream stuff. Deep in you, you knew if he found out he would never let it go.

Eventually Miles stopped at a familiar door, you hadn’t even realized you went through the elevator or down the familiar corridor. The door was the same one you, Fox, and Scar were taken to when you first met Clef. Miles knocked on the door, a muffled voice responding with ‘come in’. Miles gave you the drawing back then opened the door, pushing you in and into the chair, then leaving. The door clicked as Miles shut it, you hoped he hadn’t left or locked you in there with Clef.

“Well, well, look who it is! How are you doing, _9633_? Sleep well?” He spoke with a huge smirk spread across his stupid face. 

You remembered the dream at that point and got flustered for a moment before recomposing yourself, mostly, “first off; shut the fuck up, second; Fuck you, and third; I hate you. Now-”

“Such strong words for someone in a vulnerable position,” Clef said coolly.

You shot him a glare, your cheeks burning red, “I said shut up. I only have two and a half questions I want to ask you.” 

Clef hummed, scratching his chin, “hmmm… alright, I’ll humor you. What do you want to know?”

“Are Fox and Scar ok?”

“Who the hell… oh! The D-class friends of yours… Yes, they’re in medical treatment. They’ll be good to die another day.”

“Ugh… ok thanks.” You felt disgusted by what he said, ‘ _ **good to die another day** ’, they’re people too_. You slapped the drawing onto his desk, actually surprising him into a barely noticeable jump, “this. What SCP is this?”

“Hmm… ah, him, yeah. So you remember him but not me? Ouch, that hurts. I trained you and everything,” he sighed, tutted, and shook his head. “All that training gone to waste.”

“Just answer my question.”

“I’m sure you’ll remember in due time, lest your month ends. Say, while you’re asking me questions, I have one of my own.”

“Stop avoiding my question, you ass!”

“Miles! You can take her back to the D-Class containment zone now!” He grabbed your drawing before you could, “I’ll be keeping this.”

“Fine! Ask your stupid fucking question, just answer mine!” Miles had the door open and paused before coming in, looking to Clef for what to do. Clef made a ‘shoo’ hand gesture causing Miles to slowly close the door, leaving barely a crack open.

“How did you sleep? From what I heard from Miles, and the recording, it sounded… let’s say… it sounded like you were having fun, modestly speaking. What on earth were you doing?”

That question threw you off for a moment, but you attempted to recover smoothly, “I don’t see why that’s relevant, what I do in my free time is my business. I slept just fine.”

He smirked, leaned forward, and whispered, “did our little… encounter… leave you all hot and bothered, hmm?” Your face turned the brightest red possible and Clef threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh at your face, “Oh my… should I feel a little flattered?” He hummed in a cheerful A-Major key, loudly.

“You son of a bitch!” Your brain felt scrambled and overwhelmed as you spoke. Frustration and anger taking hold. It only took a second after yelling for you to stand up and try jumping across the desk to, irrationally, fight Clef. You only got halfway across when you were slammed down onto the desk by Miles, cuffs already being clicked on, “fucking let me go!”

“Tsk, tsk… you were always so predictable… well, you were and now you are yet again. It’s sad really,” Clef leaned forward, getting close to your face. From the angle you were at, you could see his third eye looking down on you with his other two, you hated it. You glared up at him in return, earning a wide, sharp-toothed gin. “Alright Miles, you can take her back to the D-Class containment.”

“Yes, sir,” he said while pulling you off the desk by the cuffs.

“Fuck you! Let me out of these fucking cuffs, I’ll kick your goddamn ass!” You struggled against Miles, though he didn’t seem bothered to stop you.

“Oh, I’m sure you want to. Unfortunately, you don’t have any chance of winning. Why don’t you come back when you get our memories together back, then we’ll talk. Though, it seems you’ve already created a memory or two of us ‘together’, hm?”

“Go fuck yourself.”  
“Have a **great** day, Ms. Bailey,” he said cheerfully. And as you were walking out, you looked back at Clef to give him one last glare. He winked at you in response, then he grinned as you flipped him off.

~~~

It took a week for Fox to come back from his medical treatments, he actually looked pretty good for what happened to his face. When you and him saw each other you both quickly walked to each other and hugged, “Fox, oh my god. I’ve missed you so much!”

“Same here! How are you? Did they take you to any more SCP shit? I was worried about that all week… that I would come back and you’d already be dead…” He avoided eye-contact and fidgeted with his hands while he spoke. It was kind of adorable.

“No, I actually haven’t been called at all. I think it might be Clef’s doing though,” you said bitterly. You should be thankful for being alive still, but since it’s Clef keeping you alive you hated it.

“Clef is the guy who gave us the 173 task, right? Yeah, I didn’t like the look of the guy… gives off weird energy.”

“He’s much worse than what he gives off.” Fox asked about it, but you couldn’t speak on it much because you’d just remember your dream. You felt your cheeks heat up, causing you to reach up and slap them lightly. You changed the subject to the medical stay and what happened.  
Fox talked on and on about how he had bandages around his head for a long time and he could hear the doctors talking about what to do and what was wrong. He apparently had a broken nose, cheekbone, broken and dislocated jaw, deaf in his left ear, a concussion, and a ruptured eyeball. Hearing all the damage Scar did in such a short amount of time made you shutter. “Wait, wait, wait… did you just say ‘ _ruptured eyeball_ ’?!”

“Yeah, why?”

“Oh my god, did they get you into surgery when they found out? That’s really, really bad, and needs surgery asap!”

“No, they just wrapped my face up so they ‘didn’t have to look’ at me.”

“And… you can still see… and hear again?”

“Yeah! It’s crazy, right?!”

“Yeah… what did they do?” He began to go into detail.

“Well, I laid in bed for a day or two… maybe more, I’m not sure. It was hard to tell with my face wrapped up. I mean, they did change my bandages when they needed to be, so I guess I could’ve counted the time between them to find out how long I was there…” He shook his head, “nevermind that. Well, two days ago… a lady came in and sat next to my bed and asked me some questions but I couldn’t answer with bandages on my face. They unwrapped my face and when the lady saw what I looked like, oh man was she shocked.” Fox laughed a bit, “anyway… she introduced herself as… uh… Andrea, I think it was… She asked the same questions, I answered the best I could, she had me sign a paper, and then an SCP object was brought in.”

“Wait, Andrea? That name sounds familiar… oh! She was one of my dad’s old friends when he worked here, I remember meeting her when I graduated from high school. She was really nice… maybe I should find a way to contact her…” you mumbled the last part quietly to yourself.

“She was nice! She left after the SCP was brought in, though… So, I couldn’t thank her. Anyway, the SCP basically healed all my problems up in a matter of minutes! It was crazy! They kept me an extra day to make sure all the problems were healed and I wasn’t experiencing ‘symptoms’, whatever that meant.”

You thought over how to respond until a faint blurry memory came back, it was a kid sitting on the floor and not moving much, “w-wait… it wasn’t a kid, was it? Please tell me it wasn’t a kid who healed you.”

“No, it was some weird pendant with a glowing thing in the middle,” Fox responded, confused. You breathed a sigh of relief, you didn’t know why exactly you were worried in the first place.

You and Fox continued talking about everything he had missed, besides… you know, your dream and the incident with Clef. You guys talked all day, recapping all the drama and what has been going on while Scar is out. Let’s just say it’s utter chaos. Telling Fox that Scar wasn’t back made him happy, though you weren’t sure about his ‘happy’ expression. It looked strange, creepy even, but you just shook it off. You’d be happy too if the person who beat the shit out of you was still in the hospital.

The bell went off and the ‘buffet’ windows slid open loudly; lunchtime. You and Fox stood and walked to the line and chatted while waiting. A random dude you had never seen before pushed you back into Fox and stood where you were, budging in line. You got upset immediately. After all the shit with Clef, you weren’t going to let some random dude push you around just because you’re smaller than them. “Hey asshole, why don’t you get in the back of the line...,” Fox began to say, but you stopped him.

“Like my friend here was saying, how about you get your ass to the end of the line, or else we’re going to have a problem.” You got used to using your rep to intimidate while Scar and Fox were ‘out of commission’ as a way to protect yourself. What you didn’t expect was…

“Yeah, and what? What’ll you do? Fucking slut.” The guy said while turning around. He had a dotted face of acne, fat cheeks, abnormally big nose, and was just all-around ugly to match his personality. When people heard him call you ‘slut’, they began to mutter and whisper to each other, wondering what was going to happen.

“Excuse me?” You said angrily, reaching down to the strongest intimidating tone you could possibly muster.

“You heard me, whore. What the fuck are you going to do about it? You're just a woman. A sex toy and nothin’ else,” he snarled back.

You were taken aback by his brazen sexism and how he was speaking to you. _Shit, he might be new here_ , you thought to yourself. You heard an angry huff behind you, probably Fox so you paid no attention to it. “What am I going to do? I’m just a woman? I’ll fucking kill you like I killed my parents; by cutting off your fucking head,” you cringed internally for saying that, but it was your best shot of intimidation.

“I-! Uh…” he glanced at Fox behind you and then looked away. “Fine, whatever, have your damn spot,” he said while walking away to the back of the line. You internally exhaled a sigh of relief and you could feel everyone’s respect for you going up.

~~~

Now it’s been two weeks since the attack/stabbing incident and Scar hasn’t come back yet. You started to worry he was dead, that you’d never be able to say goodbye to him before your month was up. You hadn’t told Fox you only had a week left, you didn’t want him to know until it was time… you felt he would try and stop it somehow and end up hurting himself and others. 

Speaking of, you and him had gotten closer over the week. He told you about his family, how loving they were, and how he missed his sisters a lot. You thought it was sweet how he talked so highly of his family, but when he talked about what happened he would get a blank look in his eyes and speak more monotone-ish. It was kind of spine chilling, he’d describe what he saw in great detail and then jump back to talking happily about his family. You wished you had met him before all this shit happened, maybe none of this would’ve happened in the first place.

You and Fox were chatting more about what their outside life was like when the bell for calling rang. You took a sharp intake of air and grabbed Fox’s hand. “Damn… it’s calling time…”

Fox squeezed your hand, “hey it’ll be ok. You seem to be protected by that guy Clef… me on the other hand… erm… I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah! And if you are called… you’re not allowed to die,” you said smiling, squeezing Fox’s hand in return. He laughed a bit and leaned across the table, kissing you quickly before leaving for his area. You still felt weird about the affection you and he were expressing. It felt like you were cheating on someone that you cared about, but you didn’t know who. Yet another memory mystery to add to the list. You got up and went to the cells even though you knew you weren’t going to get called. And like you expected you weren’t called for anything. 

You waltzed back into the atrium, expecting Fox to be waiting for you but there was no sign of him anywhere. You froze where you stood, panic beginning to rise. _Was he called? What was he called for? Will he die? Will I be left alone all over again? What am I going to do? Can I somehow get Clef’s attention and save him_? You were so distracted thinking about what to do and asking questions to notice someone had grabbed your arm and dragged you somewhere out of view.

You snapped out of your state when you felt a sharp sting on your face, a slap. You shook your head and put your hand on your face, “what the fuck, dude? Couldn’t you ju..st…” You stared at the guy who just slapped you, realizing it was the man who budged in line and degraded women… and you were alone with him.

He smirked at your wide-eyed reaction to him, then grabbed your throat roughly and slammed you against the cement wall. The force he put in made you hit your head and see stars for a moment, plus it was getting hard to breath. You clawed at his hand desperately, making him laugh cruelly, “really now… Is that all the infamous ‘Heads’ has to fight back? What happened to ‘I’ll cut your head off’, huh?”

“F-f… uc… k yo-you,” you choked out.

The man laughed, “expected nothing less from a _woman_.” He slammed you back into the wall again before letting go. You fell to the floor, back against the wall, and coughed trying to get your breath back. You put your hand on your throat subconsciously to protect yourself, though it would do little in saving you. He was in control of this situation and you hated it, but you felt you couldn’t do anything to defend yourself. _He’s too big… too strong… he outmatches me_.

_**Don’t give me that shit, you know damn well you can defend yourself. All you need to do it remember.** _

The man squatted down to look at you. “You remember what I said in line about women? Yeah… I’m going to make an example out of you, degrade you, and show everyone what a fraud you are.” You shuddered, his tone was terrifying… full of malice and hate, yet calm and collected. He stood up and grabbed your hair, pulling you up by it. You grabbed his arm, trying to free yourself, but all you could feel was some hair being torn out.

“Still got a little fight left in ya, huh?” He grabbed your throat and repeatedly slammed you against the cement wall. You felt like you were going to pass out from the repeated head trauma and the damage he could be doing to your throat. You weakly dropped your arms to your sides and hung your head in defeat. “There we go, now just be quiet.”

This felt oddly familiar, besides the head and throat trauma though, but the situation and words felt like they’ve happened before. And just like before, you froze up, though this time it wasn’t completely reactionary. The man grabbed the left side of your jumpsuit and violently ripped open the zipper, damaging it. You could feel your hope diminishing, no one was there to help you. Even if you could call out, nobody would come. You weren’t even sure if anyone saw where you were taken and you doubted the guards cared enough to search.

_**What are you doing? Are you just going to lay there and accept this bullshit? Remember for fucks sake! REMEMBER!** _

_You stared at the ceiling, laying on your back. Everything hurt and you honestly just wanted to give up. Why would you need to defend yourself? You’re just a scientist, won’t the security protect you? “‘You just going to lay there or get up and fight?” A voice barked out._

_“I don’t see the relevance of doing this,” you said while struggling to sit up. You looked up at Clef, he didn’t have his hat on, said something about it getting in the way while training self-defense, “won’t security just take care of everything?”_

_Clef stared at you for a moment before laughing, “what? No! Those dumbasses can barely do their own job. Plus, aren’t you the one who signed up for self-defense?”_

_“Well… yeah, but… I expected more of... training hands-off, not full-on getting the shit beat out of me,” you said, grabbing Clef’s outstretched hand. He helped you up and laughed more before getting serious._

_“Do you think any enemies are going to go easy on you? No. They won’t. They’ll beat you to death sooner than say ‘hi’, Ms. Bailey. So, I will not go easy on you.”_

_“Can you at least use padded gloves for a while?”_

_“Hmm… noted… and ignored,” he immediately punched you in the face, causing you to stumble back a few feet into a punching dummy._

_“You fucking asshole! I wasn’t ready!”_

_“If you’re not ready at any given moment, consider yourself as good as dead,” Clef walked towards you slowly, but purposely slow, you could tell that much. You rubbed your cheek, one eye closed, both ears open to his steps. You remember his class on sound cues and how the smallest sound could be the difference between life and death._

_As soon as you started putting your hand down you could hear a small scrape sound. The sound of shoes scraping on the ground; he was lunging at you. You barely saw what arm he was moving before moving your head to the left, successfully dodging the punch. You then moved slightly forward, right arm bent, and threw your elbow up into his chin. As soon as the hit connected you heard him make a surprised sound and take two steps back._

_Your elbow was tingling and hurt, but you didn’t care at the moment. You actually landed a hit on him… You actually hit Clef! A punch connected into your stomach, causing you to fall to your knees with a grunt, “Ugh! Fuck!”_

_“Don’t get cocky, kid. You may have landed a good hit, but it doesn’t mean you incapacitated your enemy,” Clef said with a smirk plastered on his face. “But, good job at using the sound cue, though incredibly predictable.”_

_“Shut up… and just fucking train me,” you slapped his hand away and got up yourself, though slowly. You looked at him, catching a proud yet predatory smile on his face. You wanted to wipe that stupid smile off his face, “I’ll fucking knock you out one day.”_

_“Well… spite is a good motivator, though your goal is out of reach.”_

_“I promise you, I **will** beat the shit out of you.”_

_“Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is,” he squared up._

_~~~_

_Jack was worried about you, you would come to his office limping or having a black eye or arm in a brace. You started taking private lessons with Clef, determined to beat him at his own game. Jack would beg you to stop and argue with you about it, but in the end, he would give in to your wishes. Occasionally he would threaten you with a write-up, but you knew he wouldn’t do it, he was predictable like that.  
It had been almost 7 months since the training started and almost 6 months since you and Jack started dating. Time moved so fast, you felt stronger every day you trained… which happened to be every day. All the time when you fought seriously with Clef, trying to knock him down or out, he would always predict your moves._

_Swing left, dodge._

_Move right, smash._

_Attempt to move more with feet, tripped._

_It was beginning to get frustrating hearing him say **‘predictable as always’** every fucking day. You tried to see any semblance of predictability with how he fought, but there was nothing there to see. He was so erratic with what he did during a fight. You started losing more often because of watching his movements, that's when you realized the solution. He doesn’t have a consistent pattern of movement, he adjusts to how his opponent fights. Figuring that out felt like a religious revelation, you finally felt you could beat him. You fought Clef a couple times more before finally figuring out how to use his fighting style against him._

_You walked into the training room, trying to hide your confidence in fear he’ll see it and figure out what you were going to do. You threw your bag down, taking the water bottle out and downing it until your stomach started feeling irritated. You threw the bottle onto the bag and turned around only to see Clef standing there, “Augh! What the fuck! Don’t do that!”_

_“Tsk, tsk, still bad at the silent approach. **You get lost in thought too much** and that can get you hurt or killed,” he shook his head with his eyes closed… besides the third eye, which creeped you out still._

_“I don’t care, let’s fight and get this over with,” you said, trying your best to sound like you were tired and annoyed._

_“Hmm…” Clef eyed you up and down, making you shudder in disgust, before speaking, “you seem to be in a good mood today. Anything good or exciting happen?”_

_You swore to yourself, “well no and yes… J- I mean, Dr. Bright assigned me to my first SCP research team, so that's exciting!” You didn’t need to fake excitement with that, you were genuinely excited and looking forward to it. There’s no way he’d be able to tell it’s something else._

_“Hm, alright, good for you. You know… Jack Bright is a stupid man, right?”_

_“Yeah, why?”_

_“Just checkin’, he’ll end up hurting you eventually just like what he did to his family…”_

_You felt your blood begin to boil at the mention of his family, “it’s my decision to be with him. Furthermore, you have no right to speak about his family in such a manner.” Clef just nodded sarcastically in response, which just made you angrier. “Let’s just fight physically about the subject then, hm? That seems to be your plan A for everything.”_

_“Ouch, Ms. Bailey, I’m more than just a brute. But if that’s how you choose to view me, then so be it. Let’s-” You punched him in his third eye, **a weak point** , you guessed. The punch sent him reeling back 5 steps, when he stopped he just stood there. He had his two eyes closed tightly and a hand over his third eye, “...fuck, my eye, what the fuck? Why did-” _

_You didn’t let him finish his question, you just lunged and punched him on his left side. “If I remember correctly, ‘the enemy doesn’t give you time to recover’, right?” He let out a deep threatening chuckle in response to your quip. You watched him lower his hand, you could see you hardly did damage to the eye itself, but around it, there was a lot. You almost let that distract you and get lost in thought, but you snapped yourself out of it before he could get the drop on you._

_It honestly felt like everything was moving in slow motion. You could see him going in for a punch, following what you would usually do, but this time you weren’t going for your usual tactics. You dodged Clef’s punch while pushing right his arm to the side with your left, his arm sliding on your hand. The move he made exposed the side where the liver was, you guessed he did it on purpose to trick you. You knew he would expect you to go for the ‘fight ending liver shot’ and you were sure he had a plan to stop you. Too bad for him._

_You made a movement to go to punch his liver. You stopped short, seeing his other hand coming in to grab you, and threw your fist up into his outstretched arm. When you connected the punch to his elbow you could see you caused it to hyperextend and heard the pop of it going out of the socket. **One arm down… one arm.. left**? You watch Clef hold his arm, grunting in pain, and walking to a soft padded bench. You expected him to be in pain but continue to fight but you didn’t expect… this. _

_He put his elbow on the bench and forcefully pushed down while rotating his arm. He yelled out as he was doing it until there was a very loud, very audible, ‘pop’. All you could do was stare in horror at the sheer strength and will Clef had to pop his elbow back into the socket by himself. He stood up and stretched his arm, visibly flinching in pain, “good shot, kid. Threw me off my guard there for a second. But… you shouldn’t let your enemies recover.”_

_You knew he sounded confident, and he was damn convincing, but you knew better. You knew you his right arm was basically out of commission and that he’d have to rely on his left and my predictability… fucking idiot. He jumped up and immediately ran at you, something that would usually throw you off, but not today. He was betting way too hard on your previous and continuous fighting style, so when you dodged him **and** tripped him, he was again confused. Clef looked at you and squinted, trying to read what you were doing, but you kept still, “well, come on and fight, dick.” He got back up with some struggle, unable to use his right arm that much. You decided to tease him a bit by switching back to your old fighting style, letting him get a few good, but weak hits in before you got bored. _

_Clef went in for another punch, this time for your stomach. You went to block it, but he switched it up and nailed you right in the jaw. You stumbled back a bit and rubbed your chin, “fair play, fair play.” You went back in, throwing a couple of casual punches, Clef tried to mask the pain and fight normally, which was interesting seeing him in pain for once. You realized then you slipped up again, you were thinking too much and that let Clef grab your shirt and go in for a headbutt. **Why don’t we see him in more pain, and finally end this fight**?_

_You moved your head away as much as possible then, when Clef thought you were going to return the headbutt, you lifted your leg and kicked him straight in the balls. Clef let go of you immediately and bent down, covering himself subconsciously. You grabbed his head and you could’ve sworn you heard an audible ‘oh no’ before you pushed his head down and raised your knee quickly. Clef fell to the ground groaning and you stood over him absolutely flabbergasted that you just beat Clef._

_‘Don’t let your enemy recover, knock them out or kill them’, you remembered a quote he said to you before knocking you out cold during a particularly intense fight... about a bit more than training. You got an evil smile on your face and walked closer to him. He was laying on his side and looked up to you as you stood over him. “oh… err… heyy, b-buddy. Good job…” he strained out._

_“Alto, flattery will get you nowhere with me.”_

_“Damn… my first name and beating me all in the… the same day? Is it normal to be turned on right now?”_

_“Oh my god, you’re fucking gross. See you around, Mr. Clef.”_

_“Can’t even bother to call me Doc-?” You kicked him in the face as hard as you could, knocking him out cold. **What a disgusting depraved little man** , you thought while looking down at him. You called for medics to come get him, they were going to be shocked seeing Clef knocked out on the floor. You noticed then that his third eye wasn’t closed like the other two, **what the fuck? Is it even real**? You crouched down and slowly went in to poke it, just in case he was still actually awake. When you poked it, you could feel the wet squishiness of a normal eye and it blinked a couple times and also looked somehow angry, “ **UH WHAT THE FUCK**?!” You screamed out. _

It had been months in your brain but only seconds in real life when you opened your eyes. You felt a part of you reawaken, memories, and things you learned coming back to you. And now… muscle memory from fighting Clef came back. You took a deep breath, well as much as you could while being choked, and prepared yourself. The man was pulling your jumpsuit down more, ruining the zipper even more. You did what you thought was best in this situation and relaxed your entire body quickly, enough to fool the idiot into thinking he killed you. “Huh? Aw man, I always kill them too fast. I like fuckin’ them when they’re alive first…” he muttered to himself, releasing the hold on your neck enough for you to finally fight.

You pushed your elbow to the wall and used the forward momentum to swing your legs out, kicking him in the shin and the balls. He grunted and dropped you, you had no time to recover, after all… they don’t let the enemy recover. You took a deep breath and rolled away before he could grab you. You quickly stood, though it made you light-headed, and started running to an area where you and him would be visible. ‘A visible fight in certain company can deter the actual bloody and deadly fight.’ You nodded to yourself, looking behind you to see how close he was… and it was too close for comfort.  
You continued running until you found your way out… of the men’s holding cell. You realized you didn’t have a keycard to open the door but there was an override pin panel. You slapped your hands to your head, _think, dammit! Think! You know it! Just remember_! You hit your head particularly hard with your hand and you remembered the pin, just in time too. You shakily and quickly typed it in, now understanding why people in horror movies suck at unlocking their own doors. The door beep and sound of it sliding open was a heavenly sound for once, instead of it being a constant reminder of being stuck in this place. You pushed the door open faster and burst out of the holding area and into the busy atrium. You must’ve looked pretty bad for everyone to get quiet, some people snickering, you could feel your respect going down. But, they didn’t know you were going to beat the shit out of the person who did this.

The man ran up behind you, you could hear his arm movement from your left, the undeniable sound of cloth on cloth rubbing together. As soon as you heard him close enough you turned and grabbed his outreached hand... You took as much strength you could muster and pulled him towards you, letting go at the right moment for his momentum to carry him forward. You sidestepped his stumbling, turning it into a fall by putting your leg out. 

He landed with a loud grunt, you felt you won this round, but as usual, you forgot the most important rule, ‘don’t let your enemy recover’. The man quickly got up and got ready to fight. “You fucking bitch, learn your fucking place,” he said through gritted teeth. You rolled your eyes and got ready as well, but you could feel the adrenaline in your system coming down and pain taking hold. 

The man swung out at you with a right hook, which you easily blocked and countered with a punch to his huge gut. He grunted and growled angrily, then he just started throwing wild punches, kinds you couldn’t easily block and counter off of. You were able to do most, getting his hit several times which only increased the setting pain in your head. You tried doing what you did to Clef, dislocating his elbow, but you were so out of practice you couldn’t manage the strength. You blame the head pain mostly though.

The adrenaline by now was all but gone, you started feeling dizzy and you couldn’t concentrate on punches being swung at you or even punching him yourself. People could see how bad of shape you were in but they did nothing, the guards did nothing. Just like what happened with Scar so long ago. _Damn… I’m not going to be able to say bye or anything… I feel like I’m dying…_ You started swaying side to side while attempting to square up to the man, “i-s… t-that a-a-all you… got, dickhole?”

“Wha-what the fuck did you just call me?!” He rolled his sleeves up, “I don’t even care about keeping you alive to use you anymore. You’re fucking dead me-!” You heard a loud thunk, then saw the man fall, only to see another man standing him. You squinted up to him and recognized who it was; it was Scar. “S-Scar… you’re back…!”

“Be quiet. Jesus christ, what did he do to you?” He walked closer to you and looked at all the damage he could physically see, “... and it was only him, right?”

“Ye...yeah…” you wobbled a bit, vision starting to get worse.

You felt Scar’s hand on your shoulder, keeping you steady a bit, “I’ll take care of this… Scar glanced down to the unconscious man, "problem… how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Uhm… two…” you said hesitantly, in actuality, he had one finger up.

“Damn… let’s get you to medical, alright Heads? Heads…?” His voice got distant and then disappeared, along with everything else. You felt at peace suddenly, there was no pain anymore… until there was.

Your eyes snapped open and you gasped and looked around. You could see doctors looking at you, their relieved looks almost palpable. You attempted to speak but choked on the tube down your throat, you reached up to take it out but the nurses immediately stopped you and put something in your IV that made you sleepy. You passed out quickly, most of the pain following your faded awareness.

You woke up a day later, at least it seemed like that… you weren’t sure exactly. Your throat felt scratchy and you couldn’t speak well at all, “h...hello…? A-anyo..ne?” A nurse pulled back your curtain and looked at you, then she turned and yelled, “she’s awake!” 

Everything from then was a bit blurry, being told not to speak but having to answer questions, not being able to breathe sometimes, intense headaches, and more questions. But you woke up one day, feeling better than you thought possible, the doctors were confused and mumbled something about not exposing you to the charm SCP yet.

The whole day was incredibly boring, you were practicing speaking again because that’s the only thing that you felt you could do besides sleep. You were watching TV for a bit while practicing but eventually, you just leaned your head back and closed your eyes, practicing quietly to yourself and trying to fall asleep. You heard the door to the medical room open but you didn’t bother looking, just another doctor or nurse or whatever, not worth opening your eyes.

A man walked into the room, chart in hand and an amulet holding onto him around his neck, metaphorically choking him. He walked over to the head nurse for the night, “excuse me, I have some questions about the recent increase of activity with the D-Class.”

“O-oh… uh… sure, ask away.”

“Well according to my chart,” he sighed and looked down at it, “this is the third request to use SCP-427 to heal D-Class personnel, is that correct?”

“Yes, it is, sir.”

“Why is that?”

“Uh well… there was a fight between two of the D-Class where they were severely hurt and this recent one is… in pretty bad shape as well.”

Bright flipped through his papers, stopping at your chart, “Ah, D-9633, right? Hm… 9633…?” He stood in silence for a moment, scratching his chin and thinking. “That’s kind of funny, you know?”

“Sir?”

“You know… like 9633… and like,” Bright gestures to his amulet. “You know?”

“Oh! Haha, yeah funny… strange though.”

“Yeah, you’re right... Well, anyway, I’ll approve the use of SCP-427 this time because the D-Class number was humorous, but don’t expect approval every time you ask. Goodbye.” Bright stared down at his clipboard as he walked by your bed, reading over it a couple of times. He stopped at the door to leave, “why does that feel important? … probably just my imagination putting nonsensical meaning into a random number generator.”

Bright looked back towards the nurse, your bed obscured from view by a curtain, “have a good night!” He shouted, only to be told to hush as you opened your eyes from your half sleep. He left, still looking at the clipboard confused, that number was important but he couldn’t remember why. You rubbed your eyes and yawned, _that voice… sounded familiar… hmm… probably my sleep brain making me hear things…_ You stretched the most you could before settling down and falling asleep, dreaming of an unknown person with a scratched out face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it! It's quite long compared to my other chapters and was wondering if you guys would like longer chapters?  
> Thank you so much! Feel free to leave advice, critique, and/or theories you have about how the story is might progress and such! I try and reply to every comment!  
> OH and sorry about the repeated "don't let your enemy recover" bit! I guess past me just felt that was really important to pound into your head I have no idea. it felt like a common quip the reader and clef would say to each other, like an inside joke  
> You might have some questions that I can answer without revealing things for future events;  
> -The bold words telling the reader to remember is actually in Clef's voice  
> -Flashbacks where the specific name isn't put in (and scp) is usually dr. bright and reader. The reader doesn't remember him very much so his name alludes the memory (exception of the Clef flashback{s})  
> -Bright is very stupid and forgetful of things


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy... I hope you're ready for this chapter  
> WARNINGS:  
> \- choking to death  
> \- mention of forced child prostitution (it is a very short mention in a backstory)  
> \- child death (again, in back story)  
> \- gun use  
> \- some violence  
> \- feels

You were starting to get annoyed with all the people coming in and asking the same questions over and over again. Though… maybe they were doing that because of your head trauma? You didn’t know and you honestly didn’t care, you just wanted to not be in pain anymore. The medical staff would only give you naproxen for pain, which did very very little for what your medical conditions were. You’ve been in the medical area for about 3 days, at least that’s what the nurse said, and you were getting bored… well… until Clef showed his ugly mug.

“Well, well, well… look what we have here!” Clef walked out from the left side curtain, he leaned down and put his arms on the end of your bed. Part of you fluttered in nervous excitement, but the other part of you gave him a glare and a snarl. “Wow! Look at that, your fire is coming back! Remember anything?”

“Ye-ah… I p-probabl-y cou-ld still k-kick you-r ass,” you strained out, your throat was still fucked up and it made it hard to speak.

Clef stood fully up and threw his head back in laughter, “Finally!” He clapped his hands together then laced his fingers together. “So _that’s_ how you got away from the D-Class,” he tapped his head and smiled wider. “Though, you didn’t get to fully fight the asshole… too bad, it would've been fun seeing that you were the one to send him to medical.”

The way he said that made you confused, _is he in medical right now? I haven’t heard or noticed anything different…_ “What do you mean?”

“Oh, right, hahaha! So, your friend ‘Scar’ beat the shit out of him, bribed the guards to not take him here, then got them to contact me and-” the door clicked open and then shut causing Clef to look towards the door and smiled sinisterly, “Well... would you look who it is…” He looked back to you, looking you up and down, making your stomach churn in disgust. A hesitant voice spoke, one that you felt you had a fondness of and good memories attached to, “o-oh, Dr. Clef… what are you… um… doing here?”

“Well hello to you too, Simon Glass. I’m guessing you are here to finalize the mental health of,” he gave you a side look and a smirk, “D-9633, right?” You glared at him, he was playing this stupid shit out even though he knew who you were and are, even if it put you in danger. Clef is just ‘watching the show’ like usual, he hasn’t changed a bit.

“I told you to call me Dr. Glass. Yes… I am… why do you a-ask?” ‘Dr. Glass’ asked, walking over to Clef. You could see Dr. Glass come into view, he was cute. Dr. Glass was a bit taller than Clef, and actually had an approachable aura, he had short messy blonde hair, his grey-blue eyes hiding behind black oval glasses. You could feel a familiar flutter in your chest when you saw him and it only grew when you and he made eye contact.

You swore you could see a loading sign over his face as he looked at you, his eyes widened in recognition, then he took a deep breath in and opened his mouth to shout something but Clef slapped a hand over his mouth. “Hey, _Dr. Glass_ , why don’t we have a little **chat** before you have your session, hm?” Clef grabbed Glass’s tie and dragged him away from your view. Clef’s voice was full of malice and it was honestly terrifying. Even you wanted to get away from him as much as Dr. Glass looked like he did himself. You could hear Clef whispering threateningly to Glass, but you couldn’t understand what he was saying. You could catch occasional words, a lot of them being violent actions he would do to Dr. Glass.

Dr. Glass came back into view looking extremely shaken, Clef holding onto the back of his white lab coat before pushing him away and towards you. Clef winked at you, “see ya around, maybe, _9633_ ,” Clef called out as he was leaving. You couldn’t see the door because of the curtain but you still shot a glare towards it before looking to Dr. Glass. He wasn’t making eye contact with you, looked incredibly pale, and was shaking the slightest bit, “uhm… hello, D-9633.” He cleared his throat and coughed as he referred to you as a D-Class, like calling you a D-Class made him feel sick. “I-I’m here to see if there was any severe cognitive damage from the multiple concussions you received,” he sat down in the chair next to your bed that a nurse brought over. He stared down at his clipboard as if reading, but you could tell he wasn’t reading anything.

“Oh… ok… uh, what did Clef say to you? I’m guessing it has something to do with me, right?” 

Glass cleared his throat loudly, “ahem… so let’s begin our short session here, shall we?” You looked at him, waiting for an answer, but he completely avoided the question. “Now, I see that in the written notes of the incident that… the male D-Class, 7684, took you somewhere and attempted to…”

“Yes, he did… you-u don’t need t-to say it.”

“Right, I understand,” Dr. Glass adjusted in the chair as he was _actually_ reading the report you did. “He choked you and hit you against the cement wall, impacting your head multiple times. You said you ‘blacked-out’ -”

“No, I said I remembered training in self-defense with Clef as my teacher. I didn’t ‘black-out’. I’ve been remembering a lot of things recently… or I’m at least catching glimpses.”

He looked up from his clipboard and met your eyes for a moment, hope showing in them before he looked back down at the clipboard, blushing slightly. “Alright… supposed memory recall due to head trauma...”

“‘Supposed’? It was a re-al memory! I worked here for fu-ck s-sakes!” You were beginning to get angry at all these people coming in and invalidating your experiences and not once looking into your claims. “Clef fu-cking knows, he just won’t tell anyone beca-use he’s an asshole! And you, I remember your voice and for some reason… it makes me happy, but listening to you invalidating my experience is making me angry.”

Dr. Glass didn’t look at you but you could see a small smile playing on his lips before reverting back to a serious face, “if it would make you comfortable, I will look into your records and see what is going on and if there is any merit to your memory.” He spoke quietly, “which there is…”, before clearing his throat and continuing, “I will go and speak with Dr. Brrrrrr….r... The director of the site,” he coughed a bit and rubbed the back of his head.

“Rigght… well… thank you… I would really appreciate that.” You watched him drink from a water bottle he brought in, “Dr. Glass… How do I know you?” Dr. Glass made a choking sound and started coughing, pulling the water bottle away from himself.

“Well! It was nice chatting! I’ll approve the use of 427 today and you’ll be out of medical care at the end of lunch time!” He was putting his clipboard under his arm and getting up, looking around in a panicked manner like he was forgetting something. “Uhhhhh… goodbye!” He quickly left before you could call after him, not like you could given your throat being messed up. You heard the door click shut, leaving you in the empty silence of the medical room. 

~~~

You couldn’t stop thinking about the interaction with Dr. Glass and what Clef could have said to him to make him act like his life was on the line. Though, to be honest, that’s probably what Clef threatened… probably something along the lines of killing him if Glass ruined his ‘fun’. The thought made you scoff and roll your eyes in anger, replaying the fight with Clef over and over in your head to give you some sense that you beat him. You were glaring off to the side when a nurse came in with a small pendant necklace on a platter, which looked actually kind of hilarious. 

She smiled at you and set the platter down next to you on a table, “here you go, this should only take a few minutes. I’ll be in the nurse’s room while this is working its ‘magic’.”

You nodded, “alright… thank you.” She popped the pendant open and quickly left before the white glowing orb floated out of the center. You stared at it intensely while your mind wondered, _could this help me remember things about my past? Or is it just going to fix my head and throat…_? 

You could feel warmth spread through your head, down your throat, then down into your body. The warmth was more intense in your head, throat, and different parts of your body, like 427 was targeting the worst affected areas. You closed your eyes, sinking into the warmth and the feeling of being healed. It was too weird to truly describe how it felt; it was a warm tingle as if your arm is asleep but in your whole body. The tingling began to fade and slowly started turning into sharp little pokes of pain, causing you to make a sound of discomfort. The nurse came around and quickly closed the pendant before looking at you, “well, you look so much better than before. Are you able to speak?”

You hesitantly opened your mouth before speaking, “yes, I can speak… oh! Oh, I sound normal again! And I don’t hurt either!”

The nurse smiled sweetly, “oh good! Well, since all seems well, I’ll call up a security guard to take you back to the D-Class containment.”

“Oh… right… uh, could I make a request on who the guard will be?” You looked at her hopefully, “could you call for Miles?”

~~~

“So, why did you ask for me specifically?” You had your hands cuffed behind your back, Miles was holding onto the chain in the middle and guiding you forward. You stayed quiet for a bit, trying to think of why, before answering him, “well… I guess, in a way, I trust you.” Miles laughed at your response for a bit until he realized you weren’t joking.

“Oh, you weren’t joking? Well… thanks, I think?... Why though?”

“Well… you seem nice and I’m not scared of being around you like other men.”

“Ah, I see… may I ask why you’re afraid of men?”

“Well… that’s a memory I don’t have back yet, but maybe it’s best I don’t remember? The only thing I know is that it coincides with the scars on my arms.”

“Yeah, maybe it’s best…” Miles stopped at a door and swiped his card, the door sliding open in response, “may I see?”

“See what? My scars? Uhhhmm… sure… just… don’t judge me too hard on them, I know they were self-inflicted but… I don’t remember why.”

“No, I won’t judge you,” he rolled your left sleeve up and looked at the scars. “Hm… I can tell you were going through something emotionally intense, I think. I saw… well, I saw you scratching at your arms when you look stressed. Also, I’ve seen these kinds of scars on security who we’ve found after a containment breach.”

“You’ve seen me stressed? Well… nevermind, there's cameras everywhere. But… What's a containment breach? Like an SCP gets out?”

“Yeah, how…? Nevermind, I won’t ask… you seem to know quite a bit about The Foundation.”

“Yeah… I worked here at some point… but I don’t remember when... or why I don’t remember…”

“Huh… weird… I have an idea of why, if what you say is true… My thought and honest opinion is you were probably given amnestics...” Miles hummed in thought. He stopped at another door, the door had the SCP symbol on it with a capital D in the center and instead of being black, the inside was orange. Miles took your cuffs off and swiped his keycard, “alright, go…” you nodded and walked in. Before the door slid shut, Miles spoke, “take it easy in there. Try not to get in any more fights, will you?” The door shut before you could respond, so you gave a small smile instead and nodded to no one.

You turned around towards the last door you had to go through, you were in a very short hallway, like the first time you came here. You walked forward, a burst of air hitting you and ‘cleaning’ you, then the door at the end opened up. You sped walked out of the hall and then towards the atrium of the D-Class containment. As you were walking your brain began to wonder, how much have you missed? What happened to the guy? Is Scar alright? Is Fox-? _Oh fuck, Fox! I hope he’s ok… or at least came back and is ok enough_.

You picked up your pace with that thought and rounded the corner of the atrium. You paused for a moment, nervousness fluttering in your chest at the sight of all the people walking around and talking, but you shook it off and walked forward with determination in your eyes. As soon as people saw you walking towards them they moved out of the way, you smiled internally at the sight that your rep wasn’t tarnished by the incident. In the direction you were walking you could see someone stand up in the distance, Scar must’ve seen the crowd moving away from someone. You broke through the other end and smiled at Scar who was waiting for you with metaphorical open arms.

“Welcome back, Heads. How are you feeling? You sure as hell look way better than when you left,” he chuckled a bit, but his eyes held a hidden worry.

“I’m feeling way better… I can actually talk like a normal person again. By the way, is Fox around?” You looked around in Scar’s ‘crew’ and the crowd behind you.

Scar gave an annoyed sigh at the mention of Fox, “yeah, he’s around… annoying little shit… why do you like him so much?”

“Oh good! I was afraid he died… he got called the day that guy hurt me. As for why I like him? Well, he was there for me when I needed him… and, no offense, he protected me from you.”

“That’s…! That’s fair… I guess I can understand why, but please don’t hang around him alone anymore. He’s not a good guy at all. He tried to-” 

Fox jumped at you and wrapped his arms around your body, “Heads! You’re back! When I heard what happened… I was so worried about you. Scar and I beat the shit out of the guy who hurt you.”

“No, _I_ beat the shit out of him, you just helped Clef torture him.” Scar’s demeanor changed immediately when Fox literally jumped into the conversation. You could tell Scar was defensive and angry at the presence of Fox. You wanted to know why, but you also were upset that he was trying to forbid you from being with Fox. _Why is he acting like this? What did Fox do to him to deserve such hatred_? 

“Hey, Fox? Can I talk to Scar alone for a little bit?” You grabbed his hands gently and smiled. He looked at Scar then you and back to Scar and glared at him, “Yeah, sure, Heads. I scored a table closer to Scar’s ‘crew’, so I’ll be there when you’re done.” Fox brought your hand up and kissed it gently, the action earning an angry grumble from Scar. You blushed, nodded, and let go of his hands as he walked away.

You turned back to Scar, “can we talk? _Privately_?” You glanced at his ‘crew’ in an obvious fashion to signal to Scar what you meant by ‘speaking privately’. He nodded in response, flicked his forearm up, and moved his hand in a way to signal to them to leave. They all muttered in a varying array of annoyance as they got up and walked away. Scar walked back to his seat and you followed closely behind, “Scar… why were you gone for two weeks?”

Scar looked slightly taken aback by your question, “ah… well… Since Fox and I ended up in the medical center at the same time they had to do the paperwork for two D-Class. Fox’s paperwork went faster than mine since he’s still very new and they didn’t have to go through all his past records. As for me, I have a long history here, so it took much longer. My injuries were also more than a one-time exposure to 427, it took three times to get me back up to 100%.”

“What do you mean? They couldn’t just do it all at once?”

“God no, if you’re exposed to it for too long… you’ll basically begin growing tumors everywhere. It’s a really horrible thing to witness, I can’t imagine going through it,” Scar looked off as if remembering something horrifying.

“Oh… hey, what happened to that guy that almost killed me…? What did you and Fox do to him? Also… did you say Clef helped?”

“Dickhole?” Scar did a deep chuckle and got a sinister look in his eyes, “you don’t have to worry about that guy anymore. In fact, we broke him… physically and mentally, so now… he’ll be protecting you. And yeah, he helped a lot at breaking him.”

“Uhhh… I don’t… I don’t know how to respond to that. Also, Dickhole?”

“Yeah, what you called him during your fight kind of stuck,” Scar shrugged.

“Oh my god, you’re joking, right?” You started to laugh and Scar shook his head in response, “holy shit… that sucks for him.” Scar sat down in his chair and gestured to Blood’s chair, prompting you to take a seat next to him. There was a comfortable silence for a bit, “hey, Scar?” He looked at you slightly and grunted in response as if to say ‘what’, “why do you hate Fox? Why do you not want me to be around him?”

“He’s a bad person, Heads. Do you know what he did? Do you know what he tried-”

“Yeah, he told me what he supposedly did. But… But he’s just like me. He was falsely accused and tried just like… like me,” you were hesitant to come out to Scar like that. He still believed you killed your parents and you were afraid that he’d try to hurt you if he found out the truth, but the truth needed to be said.

“Don’t you dare compare yourself to him. You’re nothing like him. He’s a killer and a liar,” Scar sounded like an angry dad.

“And I’m not a liar or a killer? I didn’t kill my parents, Scar!”

“Be quiet, others will hear you. You don’t think I realized that, Heads? I’m not a stupid man. I don’t believe you could kill someone without a reason, like protecting yourself.”

“I-! Wait… you… you knew? All this time? Why… did you still protect me and care? I lied to you...”

“You… remind me of my daughter…” Scar seemed hesitant as he said that like he’s never talked about his family to anyone.

“...your daughter?” You paused, trying to let Scar continue but he didn’t elaborate. “What happened to her?”

“My family…” He glanced over at you, “do you want to know why I’m here?”

“...Yes, but only if you’re comfortable talking about it.”

Scar chortled, “I’ll probably never be comfortable talking about it, but I should at least talk about it to someone.” You nodded in response as Scar leaned back, “I wasn’t a good husband or father… or person, I’m still not, but I tried to be. I wasn’t home all that often and when I was, I was drunk as all hell. It got to a point that my wife and I would get into arguments almost constantly… I even hurt her a couple of times, yet she stayed with me. Why would she stay with me after all that? I’ll never understand that…” Scar sighed and leaned forward in his chair. “When she had our daughter, I vowed to myself to be better and get better for her. I was doing a really good job, too… I made a good living at my job and was able to afford to get a house. I thought my wife was ok with being a homemaker but, I came home one day and… I found _my wife_ ,” Scar started to shake, and it wasn’t sad shaking, it was pure rage. He grasped his fingers together and squeezed.

“Scar, you don’t hav-”

“No,” he took a deep breath, trying to steady his rage. “The disgusting, sick, greedy, bitch…” he spat out, “she was _using_ our _**daughter**_.” You covered your mouth in surprise, “she was _selling_ her fucking body as if we needed the money. She was only 10 fucking years old and she already knew things she shouldn’t have to know until she’s way older.”

“W...What did you do…?” You asked hesitantly.

“Nothing at the moment… I couldn’t think… I left and went to the bar, having my first drink in 11 years. I regret not going in… and saving my daughter from the disgusting men… they killed her before I came home.” His voice dropped a bit before rising back up, “it was 2 in the morning when I got home and I was completely fucked up. I stood in the doorway watching my wife crying. ‘They choked her, they choked her’ she cried. Why the fuck would she care when it was her fucking fault?” Scar scoffed and shook his head, “I remember walking over to her and grabbing her throat then walking her back to the wall and yelling at her, asking her why she would do this. All she could do was claw at my hand and choke out gurgles as she was trying to respond, but she didn’t need to respond… nothing she said would have changed my mind. I choked her enough for her to blackout for a small while as I went and got a knife. When she coughed and woke up, she tried crawling away, but I wasn’t going to let her leave.” 

Scar’s knee started shaking, “I walked around, kicked her onto her back, and covered her mouth. All I could see was red, I stabbed her in her stomach a couple of times before straddling across and sitting on her stab wounds. I wrapped my hands around her throat as she coughed and tried screaming, but I was squeezing before she got a peep out. I was holding so tight she couldn’t speak or make any sound and I just kept squeezing and squeezing until I heard a snapping sound and watched her eyes glaze over, dead.”

“What about-”

“My daughter… the light of my miserable existence… I walked to her room with the knife still in my hand. I saw a naked man… standing over her body, naked on the bed. When he saw me and made eye contact, he knew he was dead and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop me… His death was much slower than my wife’s death. What ultimately killed him was the knife I shoved up his fucking ass, a slow death that he deserved. When I was finished, I walked over to my daughter… her sweet eyes now blank and empty, her neck and her body were covered in bruises… seeing her like that… it can fuck a person up…” Scar closed his eyes, turned his head away, and let out a very quiet choking sound.

“I’m guessing… there wasn't anything you could do…?”

“No… She was already cold… In my drunk mind, I thought if I just wrapped her up in her princess blanket and held her close to me that she would be fine and come back… When she didn’t wake up, I just sobbed on the floor. I didn’t know it… but my wife had called an ambulance for my daughter and when they walked in and saw the state of her, they called the police. I remember seeing the medics and police come into my daughter's room, guns pointing at me… and I wanted them to kill me. I begged for them to kill me through sobs… As I begged them, I didn’t realize I handed the paramedics my daughter, and seeing her with the medic guy made me angry immediately. I tried attacking him, but the police just tased me… I was so exhausted that I just passed out immediately.”

“What happened afterward?”

“I didn’t hide anything, I came out with it and said how it happened. I denied my lawyer's advice of saying ‘I was drunk so I didn’t realize the consequences of my actions’, but that would’ve been a lie. I knew what I was doing and they deserved every bit of it. During the trial, I found out my wife kept a logbook of people who came to get _’services’_ as a form of blackmail, I guess she wanted more than just money. And I managed to get my hands on a copy. Do you know what I did?”

“Hmm… got the people in the book in trouble? Attempt to kill them somehow?”

Scar laughed at your innocent response, “I broke out, hunted down every single one of those scumbags, and killed them the way I killed the dude before. I killed more than half of the people in the book before I was caught, and let me tell you; there’s not a day that goes by that I feel guilty for killing them. They got what they deserved.” You sat there in silence watching Scar, he was lost in the memories of everything that happened. You didn’t know how to respond in an appropriate way, one part of you said what he did was wrong but the other part of you agreed with him. The law system wouldn’t have done much of anything to do justice for his daughter.

“How do I remind you of your daughter…?

Scar looked at you, his eyes had tears in them but he wasn’t crying, “you look how I imagine she would look as an adult… you’re also just as stubborn as she was when… she was alive…” You reached out to Scar and touched his arm hesitantly before squeezing it gently. Scar looked at your hand and then back to you before standing up and clearing his throat. “Thank you…” Scar said to you softly before leaving for the men’s holding area, leaving you sitting alone.

You sat there thinking a bit before you got up from Blood’s chair and walked towards where Fox was sitting, chewing your nail in thought. “Hey, Fox? What are your thoughts on Scar? Without the bias of being beaten up by him… and almost killed.”

Fox looked at you, “uh… hard to form an opinion on someone who’s beaten me up every interaction we’ve had. I guess, from what I’ve heard, he seems to be a good guy and a leader. People say he’s got connections everywhere, even in The Foundation.” You scratched your chin in thought, _maybe that’s how he knew Clef and got him to help…_? Fox tilted his head slightly as you sat, “why do you ask?”

You sighed, “nothing, I’m just overthinking some things.” Fox opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it, thinking better of it. 

~~~

“Dr. Bright!” A voice shouted. Bright quickly sat up from his desk, he had fallen asleep again while doing paperwork for the recent D-Class that got treated. Bright had stared at their number for a long time during the night trying to think about why the number seemed important. “Wha-? What? What’s goin’ on? Hello?” Bright wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“Dr. Bright, Dr. Glass is here to speak to you. I also have to come in with him, we both have the same issue to discuss with you,” Andrea spoke, she seemed a bit panicked and rushed.

“Wait, what time is it?” Bright’s eyes shot to the clock on the wall, “fuck! I’m going to be late for testing! I need to leave now, can’t this wait?”

“Dr. Bright, please, this is important.”

“But… ugh fine, come in,” he crossed his arms, his leg shaking up and down in impatient anxiety. After a few painstaking minutes, his door slid open. Both Glass and Andrea rushed in, almost going through at the same time. “Quickly. Make it quick, I have to go.” Both of them started talking at the same time, frantic and worried. Bright could only catch a few words here and there; ‘idiot’, ‘what’, ‘were’, ‘you’, ‘thinking’, ‘this’, ‘last day’, etc. “For fucks sakes, one at a time!” Glass closed his mouth in a tight line, looking to Andrea to do the talking.

Andrea took a deep breath then held out a folder, her old hands shaking, “Dr. Bright, I looked through everything like you asked… I found something really really important that…” he could see her anger build-up, “for some fucking reason, gapped your stupid ass brain! Even though she’s important to you! God fucking dammit, Bright,” she glared at him. Bright was slightly taken aback, Andrea hardly swore at him… _so, this must be really serious_ , Bright thought. Dr. Bright took the folder from Andrea and opened it up, looking between her and Glass, who still looked like he was holding something back and his arms tightly crossed over his chest. 

Dr. Bright looked down slowly and mumbled, “ _096 recovery mission was successful, though we lost some men and unfortunately some retired scientists. The only survivor was set up to be the ‘killer’ of the retired scientists, once they are arrested… yadda yadda yadda… will be brought in and given the designation ‘D-9633’...... she is to be processed normally until the tattoo process… in which I will come down to retrieve her…_ Her… why is past me so stupid? Why didn’t I write down who the person is?”

Dr. Glass threw his hand in the air, “Oh my fucking god! You’re so fucking stupid, I can’t believe this! I thought you loved her?!” He started to pace back and forth, still rambling on, but Bright wasn’t paying attention anymore. _Important… 9633… her… love… oh. Oh! **Oh no**_! Bright threw the file on his desk, “OH FUCK! Why am I so fucking stupid! Oh my god, how could I forget her!” He slapped his face with both hands on either side multiple times. “Fuck… I have to take care of this _after _testing. I need to go now!”__

__Andrea tried grabbing Dr. Bright’s coat as he was running out of the room, but she was much too slow. “Wait! Today is her last day! She’ll be… dead… before… you come back…” she shouted after him, but Andrea doubted he heard her at all. She jumped and looked to Dr. Glass, who slammed his hands on Dr. Bright’s desk, “that fucking idiot is going to get her killed. Get Clef’s dumb ass here right now! That bastard knew it was her last day today.” She’s never seen Dr. Glass angry enough to insult Clef._ _

__“R-right away!” Andrea walked as quickly as her old legs would let her to her desk and grabbed the phone. She flipped through the site phone numbers list until she found Clef’s number. Andrea dialed the number quickly and put the phone to her ear, “hello! Uh, yes, it is Andrea. Is Dr. Clef available at the moment? It’s very urgent I speak with him. No, this can’t wait, I don’t care if he’s busy, this is really really really urgent.”_ _

__Dr. Glass took the phone from Andrea forcefully and handed her a file to look at while he spoke to Clef’s secretary, “this is Dr. Glass, listen to me, this is very important that we get Clef up to Dr. Bright’s office. Yes, it’s that urgent. Tell him I said he’s a stupid dumbass who should have told someone about Ms. Bailey being here, and now it’ll be his fault that she’ll be dead.” Dr. Glass slammed the phone down in anger before the secretary was able to respond. Making Andrea jump as she opened the file and let out a long and loud irritated sigh. _Dr. Bright is so stupid… this is dated the day before her conviction… who was it that brought the file in…_ , Andrea wondered._ _

__Andrea sat at her desk, opened her computer, and scrolled through her logs. She found the day they were dated and pinched the bridge of her nose, _of course, he didn’t look at the file… Dr. Alisa Anwir was the one that brought them to him… he hates that woman…_ Andrea looked up as Dr. Glass who was standing over the phone breathing heavily, his face was stern and angry but his eyes were fearful and worried. “Dr. Glass-”_ _

__“No, shh, I need to think about a way to escape death himself.”_ _

__~~~_ _

__You and Fox chatted for a while, told him about the flashbacks, and about your experience with 427. You hadn’t realized that you and he had been talking for a couple of hours until Scar came up to the table and tapped it. You looked up surprised, but Fox remained quiet and didn’t react to Scar’s presence at all, “hey you two, you do realize that the dinner bell went off 30 minutes ago, right? Heads, you should go get some food,” Scar eyed Fox up and down with distaste, “I guess you should too.”_ _

__You couldn’t help but snort at Scar’s sudden father-like attitude directed towards you, “alright, alright, I’ll go eat.” You got up, Fox quickly following behind you. Today’s food was actually one of your favorites, for a prison food that is. It was a cheaply done spaghetti; inexpensive sauce, inexpensive noodles, and normal bread slices with butter and garlic on it and ‘toasted’ in an oven. You grabbed everything you liked and walked back to the table, Scar was actually sitting at the table with food and waiting for you, but probably not Fox. You sat across from Scar, Fox sitting next to you and poking at his food. All of you sat and ate in a comfortable silence… well maybe not comfortable between Fox and Scar, but you felt comfortable with them, it felt like eating with family. You took a bite of food, enjoying the taste and peace._ _

__The peace didn’t last though, it never does. An alarm started going off, sort of like signaling food time, but this one was different. It sounded like a wail, like a warning of danger. Scar stood up quickly, “are you fucking kidding me,” was all he said before the guards shouted for everyone to go to their designated sleeping spots for safety. Like usual, you froze up, you didn’t understand what was happening exactly but you knew it was something bad. You could hear someone say it was a containment breach, which clicked in your head with familiarity. _Oh fuck, oh shit, oh no, this is bad. This is really really bad_. Scar grabbed your arm and snapped you back to reality, “Heads, we need to leave. Now. You need to get to safety. He’ll guide you back and protect you from panicked people,” Scar nodded at a pale and broken man that came running over, it was the guy who hurt you, Dickhole._ _

__“I-I don’t know…” you were obviously hesitant to accept his help._ _

__“Please, miss… let me make it up to you, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything,” ‘Dick’ grabbed your hand and fell to his knees, a man defeated and broken. It made you smirk a bit at the sight._ _

__You sighed, “fine, but leave as soon as I’m safe.” ‘Dick’ nodded in response and got up from his knees. He dragged you behind him quickly, but not too fast to hurt you, and pushed people running around in a panic out of the way. You were in the home stretch when there was gunfire and an explosion behind you, causing you to stop and look back. You forced the dude to stop tugging you and watched as the dust settled, revealing a plague doctor and some fucked up looking people standing next to him. He calmly stepped forward and grabbed a D-Class as they were running by, the D-Class immediately dying on contact. You covered your mouth in shock and looked for Fox and Scar in the panicked crowd. You saw Fox get into the men’s holding area, but Scar was frozen in place staring at the plague doctor._ _

___Run, Scar, run. You need to run, Scar, please_ , you screamed out to him in your mind. You looked at Scar closely as the plague doctor thing went around killing D-Class and somehow bringing them back to life as mindless zombies. Scar was pale, shaking, sweating, eye widened, and staring at the plague doctor; genuine fear. Your blood went cold at seeing Scar like that, and even more so when the plague doctor saw him and started walking towards him. You tried running over to help him, but were stopped by ‘Dick’, “let me go, I need to go help him!”_ _

__“I-I can’t! I promised him I-I would protect you…!” His voice was shaky and fearful. You looked back to the women’s holding area and then back to Scar, who was shaking his head frantically as the plague doctor spoke to him. You looked around at the absolute chaos around you; guards dead, D-Class dead, some walking around as mindless creatures and attacking others. Everything slowed down as you watched the plague doctor raise his arm, directing his fucked up minions to attack Scar. You could feel your heartbeat rise into your throat as you looked around for something to fight off the things with, only spotting a gun that was dropped by a guard who was now dead. It was the only thing that could work against multiple combatants, but could you even use it? You started hitting yourself with your palm on your forehead, _come one, come on… Clef had to have taught me something. Anything… remember, come on… Scar needs me_!_ _

___"Paintball? Are you serious?” You adjusted your facemask and body ‘armor’._ _ _

___“Eyup, it’s the fun way to learn without actually getting shot,” Clef put on his mask, you could see his stupid grin behind it still, “ever play?”_ _ _

___“No, never… I looked up some rules so I kind of got the general idea,” you shrugged, your ‘body armor’ sliding off your right shoulder a bit. Clef walked over and adjusted your shoulder, you smacked his hand away when he finished fixing it, “I’m not a child, Clef. Let’s start now, I have a date later and I would like to have time to shower after this.”_ _ _

___“So be it! First lesson, head-shots.”_ _ _

___“W-wait! That’s not-”, Clef shot you in your head at point-blank range. If it weren’t for the helmet, you would’ve been in a lot of pain. “What the fuck, Clef?! Wait, no, don’t answer me,” you sighed and wiped the paint out of your view only to be looking down the barrel of his paintball gun._ _ _

___“All is fair in love and war, baby,” Clef gave you a sly smile. You were about to yell at him but he fired his gun, splattering red paint all over your visor, then he ran off into the ‘battlefield’. You wiped off the paint quickly and growled angrily, following after him and determined to get a headshot. Of course, you didn’t get a single shot on his head but you did get his arm, which he pretended he couldn’t use afterward. You actually enjoyed playing paintball more than you thought you would, you started playing with others in your free time and using them as a way of practice. When the time came to it, you managed to hit 2 headshots on Clef by pure luck. He was impressed, which, for whatever reason, encouraged you to practice more until one-day Clef said no protective gear._ _ _

___You were very hesitant at first but understood that it was needed. It hurt quite a lot but you managed to avoid direct headshots, though you didn’t land a shot on Clef because of your overly cautious way of playing. When group paintball came around you paid extra money to participate without gear. You were covered in bruises not only from the hand to hand combat training but also from paintball practice. Jack was more ok with the paintball hobby than he was with the self-defense training, though he did wish you would wear armor._ _ _

___It wasn’t long until you got consistent, day after day headshots on Clef, and he was proud of you but also teased you quite a bit. You continued playing, with armor, with other people and sometimes Clef would join in… Life was good..._ _ _

__You ripped your hand away from ‘Dick’, “I can defend myself!” You yelled as you jumped over a chair and grabbed the gun. You were on one knee as you raised the gun, aimed quickly, and fired a shot right into the closest to Scar creature’s head. You grabbed an extra clip from the dead guard and started walking towards Scar, firing at any human creatures that came at you or him. As soon as you reached Scar you shook his shoulder, “Scar! Scar!”_ _

__Scar shook his head and looked at you slowly, “Heads…? Wait- Why are you not in the holding area! It’s… dangerous…” Scar looked around at the dead creatures with headshot wounds and then down to the gun you were holding, “what the fuck?” He shook his head, “nevermind, tell me later. Go get to safety, I will also.” He saw ‘Dick’ standing behind you, not making eye contact and nervously picking at his nails. “You… you are in trouble,” Scar pointed at him._ _

__You smacked Scar’s arm lightly, “this isn’t his fault, I did it myself.” You didn’t know why you were defending him after everything he did to you, but maybe you felt just the slightest bit of pity for the guy…_ _

__“It’s rude to ignore a guest,” an accented voice said next to you and the others. You jumped and turned, the plague doctor guy standing not too far away. You held the gun up at the plague doctor, but Scar touched your shoulder and shook his head, “g-go away, 049.”_ _

__“Finding a voice now, are we? Who are these people… ah, no matter, they must be cured,” with that, 049 reached out to touch you, coming within an inch before ‘Dick’ pushed you out of the way, taking the touch of death instead. Scar grabbed you and pushed you towards the women’s holding area, “go! I’m immune, I’ll be fine!” You wanted to argue, but you didn’t have time to think of a reason to stay. You started running but felt a cold leathery hand grab your arm, you could hear Scar yell ‘no’, but his voice slowly fell quiet and into a question mark. You turned around and looked at ‘049’, if he had a mouth under that mask, he would be smiling as his eyes were. He let go of your arm, a tingling numbness being left behind as a ‘gift’. “Hm… interesting… I-”, a dart hit 049 in the shoulder. 049 looked at it as other darts hit him before he wobbled and fell down onto the floor._ _

__You saw security coming out of the woodwork holding guns aimed at you, Scar, 049, and firing at leftover creature things. You dropped the gun in your hand and raised them up, Scar following right after. Security chained up 049 and dragged him away as other security checked you and Scar. You and he were ok-ed but were held there while the lead task force person took a call. You didn’t hear what it was about but you could tell it was important. The leader came over and spoke to the other security as if you and Scar didn’t exist, “well, he did indeed die, so…” he shrugged. “Which here is more important?” He gestured to you and Scar._ _

__“Well… the male has been here a long time, very helpful with dealing with D-Class issues… so I suggest we take the female, plus today is her final day,” the security guard rubbed his chin and shrugged. The leader nodded in response and got you standing, putting heavy cuffs on your wrists._ _

__“Wait, no, don’t take her! Take me! I’ve lived long enough!” Scar stood and tried to pull you back and fight the other guards. You were confused at his reaction, you had no idea what was going on but the more Scar freaked out… the more freaked out you got. You watched as they sedated him, needing 3 needles to take him down, while you were being taken away and out of the D-Class containment area. You tried striking up a conversation with the security and try prying information from them, but they remained quiet and didn’t give you any sign of acknowledgment. _Jeez, tough crowd…_ , you swallowed hard._ _

__Down the endless hallway with many doors on either side, they stopped and opened one, making you wonder how they even knew which door was what. You were walked into a mostly empty room, only an electric-chair looking… well, chair, in the middle of the room. _Ah fuck, I’m gunna be killed for fighting against those human creature things…_ , is all you could think. As you were taken to the chair, 4 scientists walked into the room along with one extra security guard who was holding a box with gloves on. The security guard looked very familiar, but you didn’t get a close look. You were sat down into the chair, the heavy cuffs coming off and your arms and legs being strapped down to the chair._ _

__Anxiety started to well inside you, making you talk excessively, “l-look, I’m sorry I took the security guards gun… I was just trying to protect myself and my d-... friend. Please don’t kill me over that. I didn’t have any other options!”_ _

__“Shush now D-9633… haha that’s kind of ironic isn’t it,” you could tell the scientist wasn’t talking to you at the last part as all the other scientists chuckled and agreed. You strained to look behind you, but a guard smacked your cheek lightly as a warning. You tried struggling against the binds as you heard the box open, but you were greeted with the smack again. You sighed, resigning to your fate, _I don’t think Clef taught me anything about this…__ _

__You could hear metal jingling and mutters of ‘careful’ from everyone. The feeling of someone standing behind you confirmed your thought that death was moments away. You saw an amulet in front of your face, it spinning and ‘looking’ at you with its jewel occasionally. The sight of it hurt your head immediately and you struggled to get away from it. You felt the chain go around your head, the cold metal chilling your neck, causing goosebumps to spread throughout your body. As soon as the amulet was fully on, you felt a burning pain shoot through you. Thousands of needles stabbing your body. You felt like your head was going to explode, the pain being so intense that your vision began to blacken and fade away..._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed chapter 16! I am open to advise and soft critique! 
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts on the chapter, I will respond to everyone if possible. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter caused anything triggering or was very disturbing to read. If you skimmed over Scar's backstory because of that, feel free to leave a comment and I will give you a censored version of it while still getting the point across. Again thanks for reading!


	18. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to preface this chapter with this: there is a dream-like sequence that happens. Please keep in mind that you, as the reader, are watching yourself through the entire dream sequence ("like playing a game in third-person"). It's a bit shorter on the word amount but there is a lot of talking between characters! Lastly, Dr. Bright is the only one that refers to you as "Y/n" (your name)!
> 
> EDIT: Added some more detail in the dream-like sequence

Glass paced back and forth in front of Andrea’s desk, “why would Bright fucking forget about her? He can’t really be that fucking stupid, can he?”

“You’d be surprised… wait, don’t you see him for evals every month?”

“Yeah, but, like… I thought he was only playing stupid so he didn’t have to spend a long time in sessions.”

“No, that’s just how he is,” Andrea picked up a pen and started clicking it repeatedly. “How long is it going to take for Clef to get here? We need-” There was a loud explosion sound and then sirens going off, “fuck, go into Bright’s office!” They both quickly went into the office and locked the door down, the minimum requirement for containment breaches. Andrea sat at the desk, tapping a pen on the desk as she looked through files and Dr. Glass sat on the couch with his legs crossed, elbow on his knee, hand on his chin thinking, and chewing on his lips. 

Time ticked by slowly, the anxiety in the room becoming more and more palatable by the second until the warning lights turned off. They both looked up at the clock, it’d been only 30 minutes, which is pretty good for securing SCP's in Foundation standards. They both stood and walked out of the door carefully, making sure everything was clear before coming out fully. Andrea sat at her desk and sighed, opening the phonebook again to give Clef another call. She picked up the phone, about to dial, but stopped when she heard quick footsteps.

Glass turned towards the footsteps, it was Clef. He had his fists balled up and he looked pissed. Glass saw Andrea scoot away a little bit, he wouldn’t blame her… he’d do the same thing if it weren’t for the situation. “Clef, great to finally see you. Are you fucking stupid?” Glass asked, trying to fake confidence, but his voice shook slightly.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, Glass? I’ll fucking k-,” Clef saw Andrea sitting at her desk watching the interaction. “Ah, hello, Andrea… didn’t see you there. Scp-049 broke containment.”

“Shut it, Clef,” Dr. Glass snapped at him. “This is between us, leave her out of it.”

“Why did you tell me that?” Andrea asked, confused. Glass gave her a side look, a small hint of worry in his eyes.

“Just ignore him, Andrea, don’t humor him.”

“Fine, what do you want, Simon.”

“It’s Dr. Gl-!” Glass pinched his brow and sighed angrily, “doesn’t matter… it doesn’t matter. Why wouldn’t you tell anyone about Ms. Bailey? Do you know what day it is?”

“Aw, did you tell Bright and Andrea? I told you not to do that,” there was a deep threatening tone in Clef’s voice, causing Glass to visibly shutter. “But, to answer your question, it’s Friday, October 2nd. Why?”

Glass stared at him for a long time, trying to get Clef to think, “you have to be playing stupid right now, Clef. For fucks sakes… how long has Ms. Bailey been here?”

“A mon-... Oh… fuck,” Clef took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair.

“Yeah. Exactly. Please tell me she did some calls to get extra days.”

“Uhhh… no… I kept her off the call list… shit…” Clef scratched the back of his head, “has a month already past? I didn’t think Bright would forget for that long.”

“Oh my god!” Glass threw his hands in the air, “if you just told someone, none of this would’ve happened!” Clef stayed silent, deep in thought. “Wait… you said… you said 049 broke containment, yeah?” 

Clef nodded, “was kind of Bright’s fault. He died, though.”

“Andrea, where… where was Bright’s testing at…?”

“Uhh,” she dug through her files, pulled one out, and read it to herself. She visibly paled and looked up at Glass and Clef. 

“They… they wouldn’t put him in her would they…?” There was absolute silence between the three of them before all of them said, in unison, “fuck.”

~~~

Officer Cook recognized you, barely. You had changed a lot over the month she hadn’t seen you. In fact, she hadn’t expected to ever see you again. And now, here she was, putting your life to an end even though she knew you were innocent. She held your end in her hands and that realization shook her to her core. She saw you trying to look behind yourself in desperation and fight the restraints then your frantic pleas for mercy and forgiveness. Cook had no idea what happened after 049 breached containment and broke into the D-Class containment, but hearing that you defended yourself and lived warmed her heart… but now… here you were, unable to defend yourself from what was coming.

Cook slowly opened the box, the scientists gesturing for her to put it on, she refused though. How could she do this to an innocent person? She turned her head away from the doctors giving her strange looks, she didn’t want them to see her weak. A larger brown-haired doctor put gloves on and picked the amulet up carefully and began moving to you slowly. Cook slowly turned her head to watch as the attention was drawn off her and onto the amulet. She wanted to do something to stop this from happening but she felt powerless, is this how you felt?

Cook bit her bottom lip to keep herself quiet as all the other doctors muttered ‘careful’ to the doctor with the amulet. She watched as he lowered the amulet carefully over your head. When you saw it you reacted violently, trying more desperately to get away, which caused Cook’s heart to leap into her throat. She fought to stay in place, trying not to do anything she’d regret, which felt almost impossible. When the doctor moved away from you, the amulet on and the deed done, Cook let out a quiet breath, “no…”

She felt tears well in her eyes, which she blinked away quickly once she realized you weren’t moving. You looked like you passed out, your head lolled to one side and almost unnoticeable breathing. The air shifted from tense to absolute chaos in a blink of an eye as you started seizing and the door to the room burst open. Clef and Dr. Glass were standing in the doorway, Glass looking on with horror and Clef looking irritated, out of breath, and angry, “God fucking damn it, we’re too late.”

~~~

Falling. You were falling into nothing. You could at least see that much… In fact, you could see yourself, but you were in control of your movements unlike an out of body experience. The feeling reminded you of playing a third-person game actually. It was extremely weird and terrifying, but everything was like that at the moment. Where were you? What’s happening? You were just in a chair and having an amulet put on you… _is this hell? Am I in purgatory? Will I just fall forever_?

You could feel your body vibrate, drawing your attention back to yourself. Suddenly, you felt like you weren’t in control of where you were, at least with your astral body. You were dragged to look down on yourself falling, you could see the fear in your eyes as you flailed your arms upwards and grabbed at the air. Under your falling body, the darkness moved, flipping over to reveal a huge version of the amulet they put on you. You forced your body to twist in the air, now facing the amulet as it got closer. At that moment, you realized you couldn’t stop yourself from falling, you were going to slam into the blood-red gem, adding your blood to it.

You closed your eyes, ready to accept your fate before feeling a tug deep inside you. Your eyes snapped open, _no, I’m tired of giving up. I’m tired of being pushed around. I’m not giving in to this bullshit **anymore**_! You crossed your arms in front of your face, preparing for the impact. You saw yourself hit into the bloody gem, it shattering into pieces like glass, and then falling into more blackness. The shards of the glass followed you, going through your astral body, and started breaking into more and more pieces.

You hit the ground, which didn’t hurt shockingly. You slowly got onto your hands and knees, then pushed yourself up to your feet. Looking at yourself from the side, you saw your breath come out like it was freezing. You covered your mouth in surprise and in the literal blink of the eye, the place was a snowy landscape. You looked around desperately, looking for a place to go to stay warm even though you didn’t feel any sense of temperature. You looked forward again and saw a house… your parents' house. Your heart leaped into your throat and you hesitantly made your way to it, trees popping up on either side of you as you walked. 

A stick broke in the trees, a shadow running by in your peripheral vision causing your head to snap in its direction, stopping in your tracks. You stared intently for a little bit, eyes scanning the trees, but you saw nothing. You looked forward to restarting your trek, but the house was gone… instead, a man was standing there with his back to you. You froze, but not in fear… you felt you knew the man, that you could trust him. “H-hello?” You called out to him, reaching out. He made a small movement like your voice surprised him.

As you walked, you kept your hand out-stretched and continued to say ‘hello’, trying to get him to look at you. His short messy red-brown hair moved a bit as the wind blew through the trees, you were almost close enough to touch him at this point. He started moving his head slowly to look behind himself, making you freeze in your tracks. As soon as his right eye came into view and you two made eye contact, you were yanked backward, or pushed, violently by an invisible force. The man got further and further away, he stood still with only his right eye watching you. You felt your back hit a wall then breakthrough, only to repeat the process twice more before hitting a solid wall and your breath being knocked from your lungs. 

You fell to your hands and knees and gasped for air. You looked up to see where you were, only to see a man standing near you, his face scratched out into black nothingness. He had the amulet that was put on you around his neck for some reason. Another appearing next to him, obviously different from the other but still had a scratched out face and the amulet. And yet another appeared with the same issues. You pushed yourself back up against the wall, fear filling your body as more and more people with scratched out faces appeared. They walked closer and closer, all of them reaching out to touch you. They were just inches away from you when the wall began to pull you in, like sinking into living goo.

You closed your eyes tightly and took a breath in as you sunk into the wall fully, the goo holding you suspended in nothingness. At the point when you felt like you were going to drown, you were dropped into a pure black room outlined in white. Walls, floor, door, window; all black. The only reason you could tell the room had a window and a door was because they looked like someone drew them on with a white brush. You pushed yourself off the ground and looked around, unsure of what to do, until you heard a voice on the other side of the door. You walked over to the door and hesitantly grabbed the handle, taking a deep breath in and out before pulling it open quickly. You had expected someone to be there, but there was no one… it was just a hallway, looking just like the room had.

A sound down the hall caught your attention, it beckoned for you to follow. You stepped out of the room into the hall, facing the direction the sound came from. The door you came out of slammed shut and popped out of existence causing you to jump slightly. You stared at where the door was for a moment before hearing a faint sound of a baby coming from a room down the hall. You looked forward slowly and put your hand on the wall, taking slow steps towards the sound. The sound turned into baby cries, causing a maternal feeling to rise in you which made you walk faster to the room.

The door the sound was coming from opened as you got closer. You stepped into the room, looking around, your eyes landing on a crib in the far left corner. You could see, from where you were standing, a bright blue and yellow blanket wrapped around something in the crib. A little splash of color in the darkness. You walked towards it as it cried, the door slamming behind you causing you to look back at it and see it pop out of existence. You knew you should feel scared, but the crying was calling out to you and it was the only thing you cared about at the moment.

You stood at the side of the crib and reached down to pick up the, what you assume, baby. It was completely wrapped up, you could see their face or any part of them for that matter, you could only hear the crying. You held it close to you, moving your arms up and down gently, trying to calm the baby down. The baby slowly started calming down as you shushed it gently and motherly. When it was finally quiet, you smiled and started to move the blankets away from their face until a loud thud sound distracted you. You looked up and towards the far wall as it began opening. Just a small box hole starting at the bottom, growing in size until the wall was completely gone.

The group of scratched face people were standing there, waiting for you. You stood frozen, unconsciously holding the baby closer to you. You only moved when the wall behind you started opening up. You glanced behind you, there was no one there, just a wide-open field of darkness. You looked back to the scratched people and backed away slightly as they took a step forward. And you backed away even faster as they started to melt together, forming a black blob outlined in red. The blob shifting and moving into the form of a giant dog, which oddly looked like Dian.

Its eyes snapped open, bright red in color, and landed on you… then the baby. It bared its teeth at the sight, growled, and took a huge step towards you. You squeezed the baby to your body, fear flowing through your veins, and ran as fast as your legs could carry you. You knew you couldn’t outrun a dog, let alone a giant dog, but you were going to at least try your damn best to protect this baby. You could hear its deep bark, again reminding you of Dian, then its giant feet as it ran after you.

You noticed a door up ahead and as you got closer the door opened. There was another door just after that, which opened as well, revealing yet another door, which also opened. You ran through the doors, loud crashing sounding behind you as the dog thing smashed through them without a second thought. You saw one last door and made a break for it, the door opening for you and slamming behind you, disappearing before the dog creature broke through the wall. You stopped at the wall opposite where the door was and leaned against it, breathing heavily. You pulled the baby away from yourself and smiled, _somehow they slept through all of that mess_ , you thought. You started to pull the baby towards your body when a giant maw bit down and took the baby from you. You looked up in horror, watching the giant dog bite down, crushing the baby, the baby's blood running down the sides of the giant dog's mouth… _my baby..._ , the thought occurred to you. As you and the dog stared at each other, pain erupted from your abdomen. You clasped your hands around your stomach and fell to your knees from the pain, feeling strange sticky wetness cover your hands. When you pulled your hands away you started to shake, your hands were covered in blood. You looked down at your abdomen, it looking shredded open, definitely not surgical... it looked like someone or something scratched and bit its way in. You looked up at the dog, still holding your hands up and shaking. You and it made eye contact, a **loud** bang ringing out which caused the dog to begin to melt away. You fell to your side, absolute confusion and horror in your eyes.

You felt yourself get pulled into your own horrified eyes, your black pupil turning into a swirling tunnel with an array of colors. You were popped back out, still looking at your horrified face but with one difference… you were laying on the floor of a bedroom. It looked like you had been crying for hours on end and you were staring off into space, holding something in your hands close to your heart. You looked closer at the object, it was a piece of baby clothing. You reeled back in surprise, _is… is this my future_?

“No,” a voice behind you said, “Please honey, you need to get some rest…” You looked behind you, your dad was standing in the doorway with a worried look on his face. The you on the floor only mumbled back incoherently in response. Your dad walked over and crouched down, moving hair from your face, there was talking behind you but you couldn’t understand what they were saying. You looked and saw another scratched out person standing there, also wearing the amulet, you backed away but they didn’t respond if they saw you though, they just walked right through you. They shuddered and looked at where you were, but, you guess, they still didn’t see you.

The scratched person talked more to your dad but you still couldn’t understand anything. You watched as your dad's shoulders dropped in defeat and he nodded, causing the scratched person to leave the room. The whole scene swirled around you until you saw yourself at the dinner table, still looking off into space. Your dad came over, rubbing your back comfortingly and then setting a cup of something in front of you and taking a seat. He also had a cup of what he gave you, but he seemed like he was waiting for you to drink. His voice was mumbled, but whatever he said made you look down and pick up the drink. You watched yourself sip the drink before looking surprised and drinking it quickly.

Your dad smiled sadly until a voice behind you said something which made him lookup. You followed his look, seeing the scratched person standing in the open doorway. He was holding the handle and saying things you couldn’t understand until he turned away and said, “I’m sorry, J███,” before leaving and shutting the door behind him. You looked back to your dad, you might not have been able to hear him well but you knew when he swore. The you at the dinner table blinked slowly before slamming your face into the table and falling out of the chair violently shaking. Your dad yelled something and your mom rushed over and grabbed the phone.

You were suddenly in the hall of a hospital, looking into a room with you lying in bed. You walked towards yourself slowly and saw your dad sleeping in a chair nearby. You smiled sadly to yourself before continuing on. You stood next to yourself and stared down, confusion filling your brain as to what just happened. A hand grabbed your arm, scaring the shit out of you by the sudden physical contact. The hand grabbing you was your own, the you in bed had grabbed you. You and… well, you made eye contact for a while before the you in bed spoke, “ _you need to **wake up**_.”

~~~

You could hear yelling all around you, but you couldn’t open your eyes or breath. Some familiar voices were shouting… Clef… Glass… Andrea? Clef was the first voice you could understand, unfortunately, “God fucking dammit! She’s dead now, great! All my entertainment is gone!” You groaned internally out of annoyance.

“Seriously?! Is that all you care about?! Oh my god, you’re so fucked in the head!” Dr. Glass shouted in response. You think you could hear a woman crying… Andrea maybe? She hasn’t said anything you could understand yet. You felt something cold on your chest and then an unfamiliar voice, “no, she… or he… isn’t dead. I can hear her… his heartbeat.”

“Oh thank god… wait… no! Goddammit… I’m going to kill Dr. Bright! Well… not while he’s in her body…” Glass muttered.

“Yeah, he’ll probably do it himself,” Clef said nonchalantly.

You heard a slap, Clef say ow, then Andrea shout, “that’s not funny, Dr. Clef!” Clef only laughed quietly to himself in response, _I’m gunna beat the shit out of him if I ever wake up_.

“Wait… her- no his… er, their heartbeat is slowing down!” With that, you realized that it was actually getting really hard to breath at all, even shallowly. Your head pounded painfully every time you tried to breathe or move in any manner. You felt as if you were fighting a war for your own body and the old you wanted to give in, but you weren’t giving in to any more bullshit like you said in the weird dream. You pushed and pushed back against the pain and the force until…

Your eyes snapped open and you took a huge gasp of air while pulling at your restraints. “Well… now he’s awake,” Glass spoke solemnly. You looked around frantically, you were still in the room they brought you into and you were still strapped to the chair. “What the fuck…?” You muttered.

“Dr. Bright… uh… sir… we’re so sorry…” a dark-haired scientist stood in front of you, he looked very nervous. “We… accidentally put you in Ms. Bailey’s body… we didn’t know… we’re so sorry.”

You stared at him for a long time before blinking a couple of times, “what the fuck are you on about?” You noticed, in your peripherals, Clef looked up and at you slightly with suspicion. The scientist looked behind you at the others then back to you with confusion, “Uh… Dr. Bright?”

You blinked again, “who the fuck are you talking about?” You were getting irrationally upset, “get me out of this stupid fucking chair. And take this fucking amulet thing off of me.” The dark-haired scientist stumbled back a bit in surprise and Clef burst out laughing, clapping his hands together. You turned your head towards Clef as much as you could, “shut the fuck up. I’m going to beat your ass when I get out of this chair. This is your fault that I’m in this damn thing in the first place.”

Clef walked over, pushing the scientist out of the way, and bent down slightly to make eye contact with you, “must I say it again…?” You glared, suspicious of what he’s going to say. He lowered his voice, it sounded husky and made your stomach flip, “strong words for someone in a, oh so, vulnerable position,” he traced his finger on your cheek as he spoke and you took that opportunity. You moved your head quickly and bit his finger, hard. He yanked his hand back and stood up, “ow, fucking son of a bitch, you bit me!”

“Yeah, and I’ll do it again if I need to.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?” He smirked at you, your face turning bright red. You walked yourself into that one…

“Just let me out of this chair and let’s find out,” you shot back.

“Now hold on just a fucking minute! What is going on?!” Dr. Glas stepped between you and Clef, then looked at you. “You’re not Doctor Bright? You’re… you’re still you… right?” You nodded at him. He looked completely confused and baffled, the dark-haired scientist looked the same way. “Now… Can you explain to me what that exchange between you and Clef was about? Why’d it… seem so sexual, like what the fuck?” You blushed deeply and Clef chuckled.

“Well, Ms. Bailey-” Clef started.

“How about you shut the fuck up, Clef? Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?” You shot a glare at him, embarrassment all over your face.

“You know what? Forget I asked. I probably don’t want to know,” Glass muttered. He walked closer to you and started undoing your straps, “let’s get you out of this wretched thing…” All the scientists started freaking out at him.

“Woah, you can’t be serious. She just resisted 963! She could be fucking dangerous!”

“We need to test her! Keep her in the chair!”

“How do we know Bright isn’t just playing a fucking joke?”

Dr. Glass shot all of them a glare, “fine, just take the amulet off her and we’ll find out if Bright is playing a joke. There will be no testing without approval from Dr. Bright himself along with 05 approval. And, no, she’s strong as all hell, but she’s not SCP dangerous. So shut up, take the amulet off, and help me undo her straps.” 

The scientist behind Glass looked behind you and pointed, “you, guard, go get a different D-Class. Male this time.” You heard walking and the door shut behind you, then the dark-haired scientist walked to you. “Stop undoing her straps, Dr. Glass. Wait until… well… we’ll see.” Glass huffed and moved out of the scientists' way. The scientist reached out towards your neck causing you to flinch away, “calm down, I’m just taking 963 off.” He grabbed the amulet, or… 963 and took it off hesitantly, watching how you react. As soon as it was off you could feel a weight being taken off your brain and your emotions started to steady. You exhaled a sigh of relief. “I… guess… I guess… huh… You aren’t Dr. Bright.”

“No fucking shit,” you snapped at him.

He looked slightly taken aback, “sure as hell acts like him, though.”

“Can I unstrap her now?” Dr. Glass stood off to the side with his arms crossed and foot tapping on the ground, showing clear irritation and impatience.

“No. Wait until we get,” the scientist glanced at you, suspicion in his eyes, “er… _Dr. Bright_ in here.” You glared at him, a threat showing in your eyes causing him to avert his eyes from you. The room was silent for a while, dead silent… the air thick with tension and awkwardness.

“Is nobody going to fucking talk?” Clef broke the silence, of course, “is nobody going to say how crazy this shit is?”

“Shut the fuck up, Clef,” you said tiredly. “Everyone is wondering what just happened in their heads, you should do the same. Your voice is annoying.” Dr. Glass chortled, Clef shooting him a death glare in response. After that, everything stayed quiet until the guard returned… who you recognized as Officer Cook. You jerked, your body trying to stand up in surprise, you pointed as best you could, “Officer Cook! Oh my god, why are you here?!” She brought in a male D-Class and looked embarrassed at you recognizing her, which made you feel bad.

“Alright, bring in a chair,” you heard a scientist make a sound of confirmation before hearing wheels on the ground. You looked the best you could… it was just an office chair. Here you were in basically an electric chair and that man got an office chair, not to mention you’re strapped in the chair and could barely move. The D-Class sat in the chair, he looked confused and scared, _poor fool doesn’t know what’s coming_. The scientist holding the amulet put it on the D-Class carefully and moved away.

You expected something crazy to happen but you were sorely disappointed when the D-Class’s head flopped down before picking back up, a clear change in his eyes and demeanor. You and he stared at each other, both of you blinking in surprise, him more-so. The dark-haired scientist spoke first, “ah good, Dr. Bright… Uhm… welcome back…” he wrung his hands together nervously. “You’re… you’re probably wondering about… er… her… right?”

‘Dr. Bright’ took a deep inhale and closed his eyes, “...” He opened his eyes and spoke calmly, “what in the goddamn? Get these cuffs off me.” Officer Cook took them off, ‘Dr. Bright’ standing and rubbing his wrists before giving you a side look and moving his eyes to the dark-haired scientist, who looked scared, “why… Why is she in here? Why is she in _the chair_ I usually wake up in?”

“W-well… you see… it was her last day and-”

Dr. Bright looked like something in his head broke and he gave the scientist a feral angry smile, “ _excuse me? Did you **put**_ 963 on her, or did these idiots,” he gestured to Glass and Clef, “ _stop you in time_?” 

“Y-you see… that’s the thing… we _did_ put 963 on her and-” 

Dr. Bright squeezed the space between his eyebrows and let out a chilling chuckle, “ _you… **you did what now**_?!” 

The dark haired scientist's voice shook, “b-but s-sir… she… she didn’t _become_ you. She… she _resisted_ 963’s effect.” 

It took a while to process for Dr. Bright, but he slowly looked over to you, his eyes widening slowly. He took wide quick steps to you before squatting down and looking into your eyes intensely, “Y/n…? Are you still you?” 

You were confused as to how he knew your first name, “uh… let me check…” You looked off to the side, unsure of what to do as your stomach fluttered. You looked back to him, trying to avoid his eyes, “yeah, still me.” 

You could see a smile play on his lips, “what the fuck… Oh my god…” He looked down at your straps and frowned, “why the fuck are you still strapped down?” He looked at everyone in the room, “you fucking idiots, except you Andrea, you’re good.” He pointed at her then turned back to you and frantically took the straps off. 

“Hey, I tried getting her out of the chair but-”, Glass started to say. 

“Oh shut up, Glass,” Dr. Bright said, annoyance in his voice. He took the last strap off your leg and let a relieved sigh out. Bright suddenly grabbed your right hand and pulled you up. The movement threw you off balance, causing you to stumble forward a bit and into Dr. Bright’s chest, “oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to pull you up that hard.” 

You looked up at him as he looked down at you, his eyes softened like he was enjoying you on his chest… an old feeling he missed. You blushed deeply in response to his look, but you didn’t make any move to distance yourself. “Oh come on, get a fucking room,” Clef loudly muttered. Dr. Bright looked away from you, clearing his throat, and then moving you away slightly. You could see he was blushing as well. 

“Right, well, ahem…” he looked down and rolled your sleeve up, “they did tattoo you… the straps hurt you… at least your scratch wounds healed up nicely…” Dr. Bright was mumbling to himself, but his comments on your scars piqued your interest. 

“Wait… you know how I got these scars?” 

“Ah-! Er…” he dropped your arm and turned away. “Team, please take her to get _regular_ clothes and get an ID started for her. Dr. Glass, please help her adjust and evaluate her mental health. I’ll be watching you so don’t try anything funny,” he glared at Dr. Glass. “And Clef… uh… just go do whatever you usually do.” 

“That’s boring though,” Clef mock-whined. 

“Shut up, Clef. Listen to… er… Dr. Bright?” You pointed at him, making him raise an eyebrow, “we’ll have a fight later.” He smiled abnormally wide and tipped his hat in agreement before leaving the opposite direction. You watched him until he walked out the door and then looked at Andrea, she looked happy to see you but there was sadness in her eyes. You gave her a sad smile, _I wonder if she knows about my parents…_

“Come on, Dr. Bailey,” Glass called out to you. You turned towards him and took a deep breath, _Dr. Bailey… that’s something I haven’t heard in a while_. You walked to Dr. Glass, glancing behind you to take a quick look at Dr. Bright. He stood off to the side, watching you with sadness in his eyes. Andrea walked next to him and rubbed his back reassuringly, the door cutting off your view when it slid shut behind you. You looked forward, no guards surrounding you, memories coming back, freedom… _I guess… as they say; when one door shuts… another one opens_ , and with that thought, the door in front of you slid open. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like listening to music to help set up what I'm going for in my writing, which I used "The Wolf by SIAMES & Patricia Pacheco" for the dream sequence. I recommend listening to it after reading as I made everything flow, if it were a video, to follow the beat and words. That way you can imagine the sequence in your head as the music plays! I'm thinking about doing an animatic for it but I can't draw humans for the life of me. Let me know what you guys think!
> 
> Also, I wanted to let you guys know that I'll be taking a 1-2 week hiatus as school starts on the 24th and I need to settle into it. The story isn't over yet, it's just time to move to the next arc!


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! I'm sorry this is being posted so late in the day, but it was hard to write some of the chapter. I feel it's definitely not my best, but I have to get back into the flow of writing!

Dr. Bright walked down the hall towards his office, not even bothering to get out of the D-Class uniform, he didn’t have time. His mind was racing about with questions; how did you survive? How did you resist 963? What does this mean? How could he be this stupid and irresponsible? Wait, scratch that, he knew how… _you always put people you care about in danger. This is why you don’t get attached_ , he scolded himself. Where was he even going? Dr. Bright just knew he had to keep moving lest his thoughts catch up to him.

He looked up for a moment, seeing his office, guess he did know where he was going. He walked into his office quickly and sat down in his chair, letting out a long-held breath then crossed his arms on the desk and hid his face. His leg started bouncing up and down as the thoughts he so desperately tried to escape found him. How could he have put you in such danger? What did you go through in the D-Class containment? How could he forget _you_?! You were the only one who openly spoke out against others calling him an SCP… you were the one who gave him his humanity back, and now… you probably hated his guts. _Which is probably a good thing_ , he thought to himself. He didn’t want to put you through anything more than what you have been.

“Dr. Bright, what on Earth just happened?” Andrea’s voice spoke gently to him, like a mother trying to keep her child calm. He looked up from his arms and sniffled, only realizing now he was crying, “oh dear… hey, she’s ok now. Don’t worry yourself so much.”

“I could’ve killed her… again… it’s not ok. I-...” he trailed off, unwilling to admit anything to himself. He looked away and put his chin on his arms, “Andrea… you remember her, right? Her dad and her mother?”

“Of course I remember, I wouldn’t forget them.”

“I… you… they’re dead… you know that, right? I don’t think I even bothered to tell you that…” he felt a build-up of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

“Y...Yes, I know they’re gone… I read the reports. It’s my job after all. I’m just happy you finally ‘told me’ yourself.” Andrea walked over to the chair sitting in front of his desk. She slowly sat down, grunting, and then sighing as she finally sat. He didn’t know what it felt like much, but he knew what old age did to the body. “Jack, she’ll be ok… I don’t think she remembers anything that happened in the past, or at least not most of it. Seems she only remembered things when her life depended on it.”

“Right… yeah… She probably doesn’t even remember who I am,” he sighed, feeling a twinge of hurt at the thought. He looked away and at the clock. He wondered what was happening with you. He hoped Glass was helping you through things. With that thought, he felt a small boil in his heart, jealousy. _Glass will probably try and get with her again… the fucking bastard_ , he thought angrily to himself. A cold hand touched his hand, making him jump in surprise, “fuck, Andrea, your hands are cold!”

Andrea chortled loudly and smiled, “sorry, needed to get your attention somehow. Are you going to transfer her to a different site as you planned?”

“Well that’s the hope, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen. It might not be my choice anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… with what happened…” Andrea’s phone rang, interrupting Bright.

“Oh, one second…”, Andrea slowly stood up, grunting along the way until standing up fully. She slowly shuffled her way to her desk outside his office and answered the phone with the most ‘customer service’ tone he’s ever heard. Bright leaned back, trying to listen to what was being said. “Hello, Site Director Doctor Jack Bright’s office, how can I help you? … O-Oh! My apologies, I will transfer you over right now!” Andrea muted the call and whispered yelled, “it’s the 05 council!”

Dr. Bright stiffened, he had hoped the news of what had happened wouldn’t travel that fast, but unfortunately, there are people who talk. _Probably Alto… fucking asshat… him and his stupid fucking need for ‘entertainment’_ , he muttered to himself. “Alright, transfer them over…” his phone rang immediately. Bright cleared his throat, grabbed a remote, clicked to slide the door locked, then aimed the remote to the cameras, turning them off. Bright’s hand hovered over the phone, hesitant to answer, he let out a long exhale and answered the phone, trying to sound confident, “this is Doctor Jack Bright, what seems to be the issue?”

~~~

Walking down the hall without any guards was a refreshing feeling, but you were hesitant to accept freedom. You felt it was some sick cruel joke that Clef was doing to you and everyone was in on it. A hand tapped your arm gently, making you jump away out of reflex, “are you- Woah, ok, sorry. I-I didn’t mean to scare you. You just looked really worried… and scared,” Dr. Glass spoke gently.

“Sorry, I feel like this is some joke. It is, isn’t it?”

“No! No… it’s not. Dr. Bright, that idiot, meant to get you before the tattoo process occurred. You weren’t supposed to be with the D-Class.”

“Oh… wait, Dr. Bright is that guy with the amulet, right?” Glass nodded, “... I don’t like him. Something about him… hurts me? Or… I don’t know, it’s weird being around him, but also comfortable?”

Glass looked over his glasses, concern in his eyes, “do you want to talk about it in our session? We are kind of in public.”

“Oh! R-Right… yes, let’s talk about it then…” there was a comfortable silence as you walked. You noticed Glass get closer to you while walking, which made you nervous immediately. It wasn’t like “danger” nervous, more of a flustered nervous. “So… Dr. Glass…” you started.

“Please, you can call me Simon if you’d like.”

“Uh… sure, um… Simon,” you felt weird calling him by his first name and leaving out the ‘doctor’ title. “Where are we going exactly?”

“Oh, right! Sorry. We’re going to get you some actual clothes then do a psych eval session, after that, if you pass, we’ll get your i.d situated. You were supposed to be hired here after all.”

“I was…? What the fuck happened?”

“Ah… well… Dr. Bright is an idiot, for one. And second is that Dr. Clef is a complete asshole,” Glass sighed heavily, irritation showing on his face.

“Well, I know about Clef being an asshole, but I haven't really known Dr. Bright at all, so-” Glass started coughing, choking on his own saliva, “Oh my god! Are you ok?”

“W-what did you say?” He croaked out in between coughs. “You-You don’t know who Dr. Bright is?”

“Uh, no… should I know who he is?”

Glass made a questioning grunt and mumbled to himself, “wow… he really did go that far…” He said something else but you couldn’t understand what he was saying exactly.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing, sorry. That’s not important right now, let’s just get you into some normal clothing,” Glass stopped at a door and opened it. Inside was a… clothing store? At least, that’s what you would call it. There was a huge selection of clothes, like a ridiculous amount. There were clothes for every body type _and_ even paternity clothes, which drew you over. You didn’t need them, obviously, but looking at them gave you a warm buzzing feeling in your skull. 

You stood, looking at the paternity clothes, your mind grasping for something just out of reach. You slowly reached out and touched a shirt, thinking maybe… just maybe, if you felt the clothes, you could remember. You held the side of the shirt, rubbing the fabric between your fingers. The fabric was soft and stretchy, the feeling began to bring a memory forward. You could see a blurry image of holding up a shirt similar to the one you were touching and mumbling voices. You could hear yourself talk, but it sounded like every sound and voice was underwater. You lowered the shirt and looked to a blurry faced person who was laughing at you. You felt a weird mix of emotions towards the person and whatever they said; annoyance, joy, trust… love…

You felt a hand grab your wrist which pulled you from your mind. You looked at Glass and shook your head, “sorry… did you say something?” Glass looked concerned and reached towards your face, cupping your cheek gently and rubbing his thumb on your cheek.

“Are you ok? You’re crying… what happened?” He ignored your question, only concerned with you. You looked at him confused, lifting your hand to your cheek and feeling the tears, you were crying. You didn’t know how to answer him though. What did happen? What was it you were seeing? How could you even begin to explain anything to him? “Look, you don’t have to tell me, now or later, that’s up to you. I’m not going to force you to talk about something you’re not comfortable talking about,” Glass took his hand away, he was looking away slightly and blushing heavily. _Cute_ , you thought, _he seems so wholesome. Why is he here in this hell hole_?

“O-oh, no, I’m ok. I… I don’t know how to talk about it yet… so give me some time please.”

“Oh! Yeah, no, of course! Uhm… come on, let's look at other clothes. You don’t need these kinds,” Glass said, nervousness in his voice. He took your hand and walked you over to the female clothing. You looked back at the shirt you were touching, multiple questions in your mind, but you just shook your head and looked forward. You looked at clothes as you were taken to the pants section by Dr. Glass, he was talking about something but you couldn’t concentrate on his words, you had too much on your mind.

~~~

Getting clothing was difficult, you wanted to look your best, for who? You didn’t know. Maybe it was just for yourself, but inside you felt it was for someone else and yourself. Dr. Glass hadn’t shut up the whole time you were looking and trying things on, you weren’t even sure what he was talking about. It could’ve been something important, but you couldn’t care less at the time. You were just happy that you were finally free from the D-Class jumpsuit. Though, you, at one point, looked at yourself in the mirror, undressed, and stared at the tattoo on your chest.

You were sitting in Dr. Glass’ office with him, well actually… it was a room attached to his office. The room you were in, definitely had the ‘psychologist’ vibe to it. You looked around the room, taking everything in as Dr. Glass gathered papers and worked a bit on his computer. Dr. Glass’ psychology office was very… ‘him’. He had a variety of plants in his office, some hanging from the ceiling, a plant in each corner for whatever reason, and multiple smaller plants on his bookshelf behind him. He also had a small cactus on his desk with a small piece of paper taped to the pot with the name ‘Stanley’ written on it. Seeing the humanity in naming a plant gave you a warm feeling in your heart and brought a small smile to your face.

The walls of his office were cream-colored and had pictures of forests, grasslands, and some motivational quotes. The office was particularly large. So large, in fact, that there is enough space between his desk and the door that there was a couch and a large chair across from the said couch. You guessed it was the area the ‘session’ will take place since it looked more personable. The sound of moving fabric brought your attention back to Dr. Glass, he had his hand on his head and his elbow resting on the desk while his other hand was writing on a form. The sound was consistent and definitely was not him writing, you guessed he was probably shaking his leg up and down.

You watched him as he worked, he was very absorbed in what he was doing and didn’t pay attention to you. He let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his brown blond hair then continued writing. You wondered what he was working on… could it be something about you? Or something about ‘the incident’? Whatever it was, he was really absorbed in it. He was actually quite cute, coupled with his calm and caring demeanor, he seemed like real ‘boyfriend material’. Right as you thought that, Dr. Glass looked up and at you, causing you to blush, “sorry… I-I didn’t mean to stare.”

“What? No, you’re ok. I’m sorry this is taking so long. I am almost done, though, so if you want you can sit on the couch over there.” Glass nodded his head towards the couch. You could see he was blushing, which made you smile a little knowing you weren’t alone.

“Yeah, sure,” you got up from the chair and walked to the couch. You took a quick glance back and saw Glass jump slightly and quickly look back down to his work. The couch was incredibly comfortable, the fabric was soft and it felt like sitting on a cloud. You made a happy ‘hm’ sound and laid down, the comfort made you tired, or maybe you were already tired and only just now realizing it. The whole day had been extremely stressful and confusing and a nap sounded good right about now. You closed your eyes as you rested your head on the left armrest, which was also soft and fluffy to the point of feeling like a pillow.

Before you knew it, you had fallen asleep and dropped into darkness. You could hear talking and laughter, all sounding like you were underwater. You couldn’t see anything though, you were just floating in the void. The laughter and talking began moving then there was the sound of a door being slid open. The talking was interrupted by the sounds of rabid barking followed by the sound of a chain-breaking and then screaming. A lot of screaming. You could feel the panic rise in you, you didn’t understand what was happening, and not being able to see it freaked you out more. You jumped awake, Dr. Glass shaking you gently.

“Sorry, I know you were sleeping, and you probably need it, but I finished filling things out and we can start our session now. If you want to, that is. It’s up to you,” He said softly.

“Huh? Oh… yeah… no, let’s just get it done with…” You yawned and sat up, stretching as you did so, “mmmmm… phooo… I’m ok to talk.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Dr. Glass walked over to the chair across from you and sat down, crossing his leg over the other. Glass clicked his pen and wrote some things down on his clipboard, “aaalright… how are you feeling?”

“Um… fine, I think. I’m not sure, I guess…” you looked around the room more, avoiding looking at Dr. Glass. You weren’t sure why, but you felt if you looked at him right now he would be able to read your emotions better than you could at the moment.

“Hmm… ok, well is there anything specific that you _can_ identify?”

“Well, I’m hella fucking confused as to what the fuck is happening.”

Glass chuckled a bit, “that’s understandable… today has been particularly long. For you, at least. I imagine you have quite a lot of questions.”

“Well, yeah, obviously. But, I feel if I ask I’ll just get some cryptic bullshit or just be told ‘that’s classified’,” you said in a mocking tone while quoting with your hands.

“Well, I may be able to answer some questions you have. I won’t answer them if I can’t give you a straight answer.”

“Hm… alright. How do you know me?”

“Ah, of course, well… I can’t say. Sorry.”

“Fucking god damn it. Fine. Where am I?”

“You are at the SCP Foundation, currently we are on site-19.”

“Ok, what the fuck is the ‘SCP Foundation’?” As soon as you asked, you already knew the answer. Dr. Glass started to answer but you held your hand up, “Secure, Contain, Protect… right, yeah, I remember.”

“Hm… so you are remembering things?”

“Yes, am I not supposed to?”

“Well normally, amnestics are supposed to keep things forgotten, but there are some SCPs that are cognitive hazards and can make the affected persons remember over time. But, you yourself are not an SCP, nor have you interacted with any cognitive hazardous SCPs, so remembering shouldn’t be possible.”

“How much was I given?”

“I cannot say without Dr. Bright’s approval.”

“Uh-huh… was I given amnestics the night my parents died?”

“Er… I don’t believe I should say without Dr. Bright’s approval, but I feel you should know. Yes, you were given amnestics that night.”

“So, I didn’t kill them, then?”

“Umm… er…” Dr. Glass let out a long sigh before continuing. “No, you did not kill your parents.”

“So, I was framed?”

Another long sigh, “yes, and I shouldn’t tell you this but… it was under order of Dr. Bright.”

You could feel anger boiling up inside you. You tried your best to hide it as you spoke, “ _who_ is Dr. Bright?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask. Dr. Bright is… how do I even talk about him correctly… Well, he’s a very complex man, er, ‘SCP’.”

“Scp? He’s a SCP? Why is he working as a researcher then?”

“Well, the amulet that was put on you was the SCP, he’s just attached to it. Also, he’s the site director and researcher.”

“Why would he set me up?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest.”

“Hmm… is… is his first name, Jack…?” You remember that you interacted with someone in your memories named Jack, someone who seemed to care about you deeply. And… you cared about him in turn.

“Y...Yes, how did you…? Nevermind… did you remember something about him?”

You could feel a build-up emotions, too many to name, “why… why would he… set me up… like that…?”

Oh no… hey, hey, hey, hey,” Dr. Glass got up a bit and shuffled over to sit next to you. “It’ll be ok, he probably meant well, but he’s very stupid sometimes and forgets about things.”

“But… why would he… why would he forget about _me_?” You were crying at this point, you didn’t even know what for. Why were you so hurt by all of this? You didn’t even _know_ him know him, so why were you feeling so betrayed? You cried into Dr. Glass’ shoulder as he gently wrapped his arms around you in a comforting manner. He rubbed your back and whispered ‘shhh shh’ softly, letting you cry it out

As you were calming down, the phone began to ring, “shoot… I’m sorry, I have to answer that. Will you be ok?” You nodded, sniffled, and wiped your eyes. Glass stood up and walked to his door to his regular office, he paused at the door and looked at you before opening the door and going in. You sat on the couch alone, feeling pathetic for crying about someone you didn’t even know. You stood up and walked over to his desk to grab tissues and after blowing your nose, you could hear Dr. Glass talking, well more of a whispering yell. He sounded really upset, confused, and scared all at once. You walked closer to the door and started to eavesdrop.

“ _What do you mean 05 wants to see her_?! What the fuck?! I don’t want to send _her_ to the _05 council_!.... For fuck’s sake… just another thing to add to this massive fuck up. Did you not try to talk them out of it? … Well, you don’t have to insult me, jesus christ. Fine! Fine. I will bring her over as far as I can… Hey, fuck you, I can’t bring her all the way, I’m don’t have the clearance for it… No, I’m bringing her as far as my clearance will let me, I’d rather not get terminated. Bye,” Dr. Glass hung up the phone loudly and huffed. You quickly, and quietly went back to the couch and sat, trying to look as casual as possible.

Dr. Glass walked back in and looked at you with a raised eyebrow, “Hey, I’m sorry… we have to cut this session short, I gotta take you somewhere.”

“Oh… where?”

“Ah, I’m not really supposed to talk about it much, but I will say the leaders of The Foundation wish to meet you.”

“Why?”

“Uh… to be honest, I’m not sure… but I’m guessing it’s because of what happened with 963.”

“Uhhh 963… the amulet thing, right?” You asked. Glass nodded making you sigh in response. You got up from the couch and walked over to him, “what’s the deal with 963, exactly?”

He began walking, “well… 963 is a very interesting story, I can give you the files after your meeting.” He muttered something under his breath, you barely caught what he was saying, “if you come back…”

“Uhhhh… sure,” you gave him a nervous side glance. _Why did he say ‘if you come back’? What does that even mean? Am I in danger?_ You started scratching at your left wrist nervously, the thought of being in danger brought a whole dose of anxiety through your body. 

You continued scratching as you and he walked down the long quiet hallway, there weren’t a lot of people around at all. Some people were at a reception desk, there were security, janitors, and a few researchers here and there. All the hallways seemed the same, until you got to a dark grey door, the SCP symbol in white on it and ‘Level 2’ printed below it. You gulped down a rock, you had no idea how far you had to go and the lack of that knowledge made your fear even worse. You felt Dr. Glass grab your right arm, you looked up at him, “Hey, go easy on yourself. Everything is ok, you don’t need to worry. Please, stop scratching at yourself… you might really hurt yourself.”

“O-oh sorry… I didn’t… was I really scratching that hard?”

“Yes, look at your arm. You have red spots from scratching too hard.”

“Oh… I’m sorry… I just… it’s just kind of become a coping thing I do? I don’t even realize I’m doing it sometimes…”

“Hmm… did this just start?” He swiped his card, the door sliding open loudly.

“Kind of… about the time with my parents dying.”

“That’s probably it… I’ll look into what really happened that night if I can access that report that is. Maybe we can talk about it in our next session.”

“Yeah, it would be nice to finally know what really happened,” you smiled at him, unintentionally squeezing his hand. You and he blushed, pulling your hands apart, “ah, sorry!”

“N-no! I’m sorry!” He said back to you. You and he walked down the hall, exchanging an unending row of apologies. It made you forget for a while where you were going and the uncertainty of what lay ahead for you.

Eventually, you and he got to an elevator with the number 19 painted in black next to it. He swiped his card to bring the elevator up, you wondered how deep The Foundation was. How many floors does it have? The elevator dinged and opened up, you and him stepped inside. As soon as Glass pushed the number 26, the doors slid shut and the elevator started moving down. You wanted to talk to fill the silence, but you weren’t sure what you could even talk about. As you were mulling over any questions or subjects the elevator dinged then the elevator door opened. There was a researcher standing a bit away from the door holding 5 thick files, he didn’t really have any response to seeing you and Dr. Glass besides, “ah, is this Dr. Bailey, Dr. Glass?” His voice was incredibly monotonic, unnervingly so.

“Yes, it is. She needs to go down to… well, below my clearance level.”

“I see. I was informed you were given permission to escort her to the lower levels, why am I here? I have a lot of work to do,” he… seemed annoyed? You honestly couldn’t tell. There was no tone change or even facial change to indicate anything.

“I don’t trust _them_ to not use this as an opportunity to have a reason to terminate me,” Glass sounded irritated, which felt odd to hear from such a gentle person.

“Very well, I will escort her from here then.”

“Thank you, Dr. Gears, I owe you one,” Dr. Glass stepped out of the elevator, switching spots with, who you now know as Dr. Gears.

Gears put his hand on the door to stop it from closing, “if you so say that you ‘owe me one’, then I ask you to take these files to Dr. Iceberg for me. I feel this may take a while and I want as much work done as possible before I return.” Gear held out the 5 files he was carrying, “do not read them or peek at them, they are above your clearance level, I am trusting you to do this for me. Do not break my trust.” Though there was no change in his tone, you could feel the threat in the words and so could Glass. He nodded and gulped, taking the files and holding them to his body. Dr. Gears stepped away from the door, letting it close.

The air felt tense in the elevator, though you were sure you were the only one feeling it given that Gears didn’t seem to have anything there emotionally or… something. Gears took his card off his chest and swiped it, more elevator floor buttons lit up, all the way to 41, which Gears hit. _Oh jeez… a long silent and awkward elevator ride with a man with less emotional expression than a potato_. The elevator began moving down, faster than the ride with Dr. Glass. “It is a welcoming sight to see you back, Ms. Bailey. Though, I believe you do not remember me,” Gears suddenly spoke, surprising you.

“Oh… u-uh… no, I’m sorry, I don’t remember you,” you felt bad you didn’t remember him. Did you have some sort of friendship with him? You imagined he would only speak like that with someone he considered a friend.

“I figured as much. He was very determined on making you forget everything that happened,” he continued as you opened your mouth to ask what happened. “Though, I don’t believe myself to be at liberty to discuss such a thing. It is entirely up to him, and you, should you remember, to talk it over. That is if he assigns you here at site-19. I prefer it for you to be assigned here, if not for my own curiosity to see how the amnestics affected you and if you remember things over time.”

You nodded, annoyed slightly that he won’t tell you what happened, “well… if you’re interested in that… I can tell you I do remember some things. Though… a lot of the memories feel like dreams, except the two with _Clef_.” You spoke his name bitterly.

“Interesting, what triggered the memories, if I may ask?” Gears looked at you, you swear you could see the smallest bit of curiosity in his eyes. You were about to answer, but the elevator dinged and the door slid open to a dimly lit hallway. “Well, we are here. I will find out later, depending on what the council says,” Gears walked off the elevator and down the hallway to a door. You followed after him and you would have gripped some part of his coat to ground yourself, but you felt he would be ‘upset’ or ‘confused’ by your actions.

He slid his card at the door, put his hand on a panel that flipped open, and then entered a code on another panel that flipped open. The door slid open in two different directions, a robotic voice speaking as it did so, “welcome, Dr. Gears.” He walked through, you following closely after him through the door. You could see someone at the end of the hall at another door, pacing back and forth. He looked like he was going through a flurry of emotions, he had his hand on his face in a ‘desperately thinking of a lie’ kind of way. He did a double-take at you and Gears, he looked at you mostly though. He seemed like he was holding back something, though his eyes betrayed him. He looked excited and happy to see you, but outwardly he kept a professional demeanor. 

“Finally! You’re both here!” He said loudly.

“Dr. Bright, please keep quiet. We got here in a timely manner, you are just impatient. Now, what is this about?” Dr. Gears put his hands behind his back.

“Well, excuse me for being stressed-!”

“You are excused,” Dr. Gears responded quickly. A show of humor making you chortle loudly.

“Mmmm _mmmm_ … haha, very funny. Now, on with business… the meeting is about _her_ ,” Dr. Bright gestured to you, not meeting your eyes or even looking at you, which hurt.

“I would assume so, given that I’m bringing her down here, a place way above her clearance level. But, _why_ am I bringing her here?”

“Oh, Gears… for fucks sakes… it’s hard to even explain.”

You decided to butt into the conversation out of spite, “no, it’s not, you just don’t want to talk about it.” Dr. Bright and Gears looked at you, Dr. Bright looking surprised, sad love in his eyes, at your response. “What happened was,” something overcame you, it felt like being able to come back to yourself and who you are… who you were before your memories were erased. “This… this _moron_ ,” you gestured to Dr. Bright, “forgot about setting me up for the murder of my parents. Which then led to me being in jail and then being a D-Class for a month or whatever. **_Then_** , he died from a containment breach _he_ caused, which led to him needing a new body-”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Dr. Gears muttered.

“So, they took _me_ because my time was up and put the fucking amulet on me. But, guess what? It-!”

“It didn’t work…” Gears turned towards Dr. Bright and rubbed his chin. “Interesting… Now I see why the council wishes to see you. Dr. Bright, this is a very interesting development, I assume you don’t have a say in where she is stationed now.” Dr. Bright slowly took his eyes off you and back to Gears then nodded in response. Dr. Bright looked down at his feet, multiple negative emotions coming off of him. The door behind him slid open quickly with a loud ‘clunk’, making you and Bright jump in surprise. A warped voice came from the darkroom, “you may come in now.”

You, Bright, and Gears walked into the room, the door closed loudly behind you and plunged the room into complete darkness. You instinctively grabbed the nearest person, irrational fear of being ‘in the void’ alone coming over you. A light turned on, illuminating 2 chairs and barely illuminating the 13 chairs with people in them. You couldn’t clearly see any person, there was no detail you could grasp, it was as if they were wearing some kind of face warping mask. You looked at who you were grabbing on to, it was Dr. Bright. He met your eyes, glanced down to your arm you scratched at, frowned with worry in his eyes, looked away, then shrugged you off like you were a nuisance and he hated your guts… another thing that stung deep inside you.

Dr. Gears took a couple of steps back until he was against the wall, he had his hands behind his back and looked towards the center chair. Dr. Bright, on the other hand, walked to the two chairs and sat down in the left one. You stood close to the door, unsure of what to do. You looked from Dr. Gears to Dr. Bright, _where do I go? Am I supposed to sit with Dr. Bright? I have no idea what’s happening_. “Sit down,” one of the 13 people spoke, irritation in their warped voice. You jumped slightly and quickly walked over to the empty chair and took a seat.

Dr. Bright turned his body away slightly from you, more salt in the wound, and slouched, looking incredibly bored and annoyed with the whole situation. You, on the other hand, were so tense that you couldn’t slouch or relax even the slightest bit. Another one of the 13 talked, “Dr. Gears, I presume you are only here for escorting Miss Dr. Bailey?”

“Correct, I would also like to offer my opinion should it need to be said later, if that is alright with you, 05-██?”

“If you must,” ██ said, a slim hand waved dismissively into the light. “Now to begin, Dr. Jack Bright, you are already aware of why we are here today, but I don’t believe _she_ knows?”

You didn’t like how she spoke about you as if you weren’t in the room, _she could have just asked **me**_. Bright opened his mouth to speak, but you interrupted him, “I would like to speak for myself. I’m not fucking stupid, I can easily deduce why I am here. I’m here because of it,” you pointed at Dr. Bright, you wanted to hurt him back somehow, but you instantly felt your heart drop as soon as you said it. You took a deep breath, trying not to cry, “I-I mean… I’m here because the amulet didn’t work on me.” You glanced over to Dr. Bright and you could see he was visibly shattered.

A male voice responded, “you are correct. 963 should have killed you as soon as it touched you, but here you are… as lively as ever. Now, we want to know _why_ it didn’t work on you.”

“Well… I don’t know why… Oh! I was touched by that plague doctor guy before I was taken by security.”

“Hm… his touch didn’t work either, interesting. Your father was also unaffected by 049’s touch. It could, maybe, be a factor in why 963 didn’t work. There are plenty of questions, but no answers, that is why we are here today.”

“I don’t care why it didn’t work. It doesn’t matter, I don’t want any of this,” Dr. Bright spit out angrily.

“You have no choice in the matter anymore, Jack. If you weren’t so forgetful, this wouldn’t have happened at all. All of this happened because you couldn’t deal-”

“Shut up, M-!”

“Jack. You will **not** refer to me as anything other than ██,” even with the voice warp you could hear the threat behind his words. It was actually really terrifying and sent a shiver down your spine. “Now, ██, I leave it to you.”

A male voice coming from the center, the person radiated power and intimidation, “Dr. Jack Bright, you and her are assigned to work together to figure out why 963 did not affect her until further notice.”

Bright stood up fast, “I-!”

“You have no choice. You will listen or we will follow through on the threat we presented you before they came in,” the dude's voice actually put genuine ice-cold fear into your very being. “That is final,” he turned his voice warp off, making him sound even more scary and serious.

“Y...yes, sir…” bitterness filled Bright’s voice.

“Now leave, all of you,” ██, the scary one, waved you and the two scientists out of the room. You followed after Dr. Bright as he left quickly, you didn’t want to be left alone with… those people. Bright was the first to exit the room, then you, and Gears after, the door then slammed shut. All of you stopped, for some reason, and looked back at the door. “Well… that was far more interesting than I thought it would be,” Gears said, still incredibly monotone.

“Glad you found humor in it, _Gears_! Can you take… _her_ up to the I.D station,” the way Bright said the last sentence was very much so not a question, rather it was a demand.

“Dr. Bright, while I recognize you as the site director, I have much of my own work to do and Dr. Bailey is not my responsibility.” Gears began walking away towards the door, “why don’t you just give her her old I.D? I know you keep it in your office, so why go through all the trouble?” Gears slid his card, opening the door, and before Bright could respond, the door closed behind Gears.

“That son of a…” Bright grabbed his hair and made incoherent grumbles, growls, and swears. He let his arms fall to his side and let out a quick sigh. Bright turned to you, still not _looking_ at you, and spoke, “I guess I’m stuck with you then. Come on, don’t lag behind because I will not wait for you,” where warm light-hearted would have been, was only ice cold hostility. You followed him as he walked, pain in your chest and a sick feeling in your stomach, _I probably deserve the hostility…_ Bright swiped his card, walked through quickly to the elevator, and swiped his card again, the elevator opening. He got on, pushed a button, and started pushing a second button repeatedly, you barely caught up and got on the elevator. He let out a grumble when you got on and scooted to the corner, treating you like you were the plague.

“Okay, I get I insulted you, but I really don’t appreciate you treating me like I’m some sort of disease,” you said forwardly, you didn’t want to act like it wasn’t happening and you wanted to know why it was.

Bright scoffed in response, “well, excuuuse me, princess.” You did your best trying not to chortle in response to the stupid Link reference, “sorry I’m not treating you like you’re fucking royalty.”

“Pf… ahem… what’s your fucking problem?”

Bright shot you a look, meeting your eyes for a split second, and showing pain. He smirked through whatever was happening to him emotionally, “‘what’s my problem’? _You_ are my fucking problem.”

“Why-!”

“I didn’t want you to be here on site-19, let alone _work_ with you! And now, here I am, stuck with you, of all people.”

“Excuse me? Me, of all people? What the fuck did I do to you?”

Dr. Bright suddenly slammed his fist into the elevator wall, “what did you do to me? _What did you do to me?!_ ” 

He got closer to you, cornering you, “y...yes… what…?”

He slammed his hand against the wall next to your right ear, leaned in close to you, and whispered in a low angry, and shaking tone, “you did _everything_ to me. You… **_destroyed_** me. **Every aspect of me was destroyed. _All the walls I put up were torn down by you_**.” You pushed yourself against the wall, looking at his eyes, they had tears in them, “I want _nothing_ to do with you. You are **_nothing_** to me anymore.” Bright met your eyes, you were actually tearing up to the point tears rolled down your face because there were too many tears for your eyes to hold. The elevator dinged and opened revealing a researcher with a scarf wrapped around his neck and wearing a heavy winter coat. Dr. Bright took a step back, cleared his throat, and started leaving. You hesitantly started to follow, but he stopped in the elevator doorway, “Dr. Iceberg, take Y/n to get her I.D, I need to go do something _that’s actually important_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it, I̶ ̶h̶o̶p̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶e̶l̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶!
> 
> If you want updates on how things are going with the writing, feel free to follow me on twitter: @ShakingArtist OR tumblr (i update on there more often): https://www.tumblr.com/blog/vxmorpheus! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love to hear your feedback, I also try to respond to every comment!


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update!  
> Possible triggers:  
> -gun  
> -attempted suicide

The young researcher looked at Dr. Bright in surprise, “important? But, isn’t she-”

“You heard what I said. Go.”

“Ah… yes, sir…” Dr. Iceberg got onto the elevator with you as Dr. Bright stormed away, and you swore the elevators temperature dropped by a couple degrees. The elevator door slid shut and began to move up, “fffshhh… what was that about-?” He looked at you and stopped talking for a moment, “a… are you crying, Ms. Bailey?” You couldn’t bring yourself to talk, you knew if you even tried you would break immediately, all you did was nod. “Jeez… what did he say? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” You nodded again, “damn, idiot… I swear… It’ll be ok, I’m sure of it. He can’t stay mad forever,” Iceberg said positively, “especially at you.” Dr. Iceberg was adorable, like a puppy, full of innocence. “Would you like to join Dr. Gears and I to lunch after we get your I.D and I drop these,” he held up the folders Glass was handed to give to him, “off at Gears’ and I’s shared office?” You thought for a moment and nodded, he smiled in response and hit the floor number 9. The door slid closed and the elevator started going up, riding in silence for a moment before hearing a loud ‘bang’ sound. The elevator doors rattled a bit as wind went through them. You and Iceberg looked at each other in confusion, “i...is that normal?”

“Uhm… No, not really… though it does happen if someone was trying to get to the elevator but was too late.”

“W… what?”

“Uh, like… you know, you hit the door with your hand?”

“Oh! I get it, yeah…” you nodded and looked at the light telling you what floor you were on.

“Though… I didn’t hear anyone running for the elevator…” Iceberg shrugged. The elevator stopped and dinged at floor 9, doors sliding open and revealing a busy hallway, _ah… so this is where everyone is…_ Iceberg got off first, “come one, let’s get you that I.D!” You smiled a little, wiped your face, and stepped off the elevator. As soon as the doors to the elevator closed, you heard it ding, you looked behind you and saw the light indicator pointing down. _Maybe…_ , hope brimmed up a bit, but you crushed it down quickly, _no… it’s not him… he wouldn’t change his mind… not after… **that**_. “You ok?” 

You jumped and looked forward, “what? Oh… yeah, I’m fine… er… I’ll be fine,” you didn’t meet Dr. Iceberg’s eyes.

“It’s ok to be upset, you know? He hurt you, it’s only natural,” Iceberg gave you a reassuring smile and grabbed your hand. “Come on! We don’t want to miss lunch, today is spaghetti day!” You chortled loudly and followed him with a smile on your face.

~~~

_Idiot. You idiot. You fucking **idiot**_ , Dr. Bright thought to himself. _Why would… why did I… fuck_ , Dr. Bright stopped walking away from the elevator. He heard it ding and he ran to the door, he was too late. He stared at the door before punching it as hard as possible, “ **God fucking damn it!**!!” He grabbed his head and stared at the ground, seeing drops fall from his face to the floor. Bright put his head on the elevator door, “I’m… I’m sorry… I’m so…” He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a loud sob. Bright was happy no one was around at the moment, he didn’t want anyone seeing him like this.

He heard the mechanics of the elevator stop and he hit the up button as hard and fast as he possibly could. Bright could hear the elevator coming down to get him, but what was he going to do? Run to you and apologize over and over? No… he couldn’t do that… nothing would take back the words he said to you. Nothing. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe and calm down, but it felt impossible. The elevator dinged and opened, surprising him and making him stumble into it and to the wall. He grabbed the railing tightly then turned to the panel and hit the number 9 harder than necessary.

~~~

It actually didn’t take as long as you thought it would to get your I.D, no one was in line to get one and the people behind the desk seemed to know you. You stared at the I.D as you and him walked out of the office and the people called out, “you and Dr. Bright behave now!” You frowned, Dr. Iceberg turned to them slightly and did the ‘cut it off’ gesture on his neck with a ‘shut up please oh my fucking god’ face. You could hear the people say multiple things; ‘oh yeah…’, ‘woops’, ‘oops’, ‘shit I forgot’, etc. You just did your best to ignore it and move on. “I’m sorry about them, not everyone _knows_ about… well…” Iceberg started.

“My memories… yeah… I’m fine, you don’t have to apologize for them,” you said flatly. You hooked your I.D to your chest and looked up and felt instant anger, “hey… Iceberg… who is _that_?”

“Wha-? Who?” He looked towards where you were looking, seeing the woman standing by the elevator with her arms crossed, “oh… _Oh_ , uhm… hmm… why don’t we just take the stairs? Yeah?” The way he was talking gave the impression that if this was an anime, he’d have a large sweat drop on his head to accompany his forced smile.

“No. Who is she?”

He sighed, defeated, “Alisa Anwir… uhm… there’s not a good… history between you two…”

“I can tell… or rather, I can feel it,” you said bitterly. Alisa looked at you and smirked then walked over. “Shit,” Iceberg muttered to himself.

“Oh, it’s you… how lovely to see you again,” Alisa’s voice was patronizing and laced with sweet venom. “How _‘fortunate’_ you’re not in D-Class containment anymore. Though, you are eternally marked as a degenerate,” she glanced down at your arm.

You subconsciously grabbed your arm as if trying to hide the tattoo and shook, wanting to beat the shit out of her, “better than being eternally a dumb bitch.” Iceberg grabbed your shoulders and started pulling you to the elevator, Alisa rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but you beat her to it, “keep rolling your eyes and maybe you’ll finally find a fucking brain.” Alisa huffed and walked away. You nodded, affirming your comeback as a victory, and looked to Iceberg, “sorry… I just felt-”

“No, no, it’s ok. I get it… I just didn’t want this to turn into a physical fight like in the past,” Iceberg forced a smile and rubbed the back of his head.

“That’s happened before?”

“Yeah, it was pretty messy… though, you being trained by Clef, you naturally won and she ended up in medical for a good while.”

“Pff… good. I guess it was smart to pull me away because I was gunna go full out on her.”

“I could tell, you were visibly shaking,” Iceberg shrugged. He went to hit the button but realized it was coming back up, “oh someone is already coming up to floor 9… we’ll just grab it afterwards.” You took a sharp breath and felt a bit of hope in your heart that maybe it was Dr. Bright coming up. _Why do I care? He hates me… why would he come back_? The elevator dinged and opened, but… no one was in it.

~~~

Dr. Bright walked down the hall quickly, only staring at the ground to avoid looking at his co-workers. _Fucking coward_ , Bright kept repeating that in his head. He walked past Andrea, lost in his thoughts, “sir? Dr. Bright? Jack!” He continued to his desk, “Jack, what happened? Where is Ms. Bailey?” He sat down and put his face into his hands, “Are you ok? Is she ok? Please talk to me, Ja-” He burst out, fully bawling into his hands, “...Jack… what… what happened?”

“I-I fu-fucked up… why am I so stupid? Why do I hurt people all the time? Why would I say… what’s wrong with me?”

“Jack… please tell me what happened…” Andrea stepped closer into his office as he cried. “You know I’m here for you… like you were for me.”

“I hurt… I hurt her more… that’s all I’m good at,” he lurched and sobbed.

Andrea turned and shut the door gently, she knew he didn’t like people seeing him cry, “Jack… it’ll be ok… what did you say?”

“I… I told… her… she was nothing… to me…”

“Oh, Jack… why would you say that? You know that’s not true.”

“I thought… maybe… if I just said that… I could detach myself and make… make her hate me… it would be easier that way…”

“Jack…” Andrea put her hand on his, pulling it from his face, “it wouldn’t be easier that way, and you know that. At least I hope you do.”

Bright sniffed, “I…” he shook his head, “no… it would be easier…”

“Jack!”

“Maybe… she should just… forget everything again… go and do something with her life instead of being stuck here with me.... or...”

“Jack Bright! You will not!” Andrea reeled back, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But, he wasn't listening to her anymore, lost in his own thoughts.

Bright stood up, pulling his hand away from Andrea’s, “it would be best… yeah… she deserves better…” He took 963 off but kept it in his hand, “I’m a monster… I’m just an SCP… like she said.”

“She called you an SCP?” Andrea walked over to him slowly, “Jack… don’t erase her again, please.”

“‘It’... she called me… ‘it’... and she’s right… she always is,” Bright stared at 963 and squeezed his hand around the chain until he had white knuckles, “I wish… this would die.”

“Jack,” Andrea said, scared of the implications. “It’ll be ok… if you just say you're sorry and talk it out, it’ll be ok.”

“Andrea… do you know how old I am?”

“I- what?”

“I’m older than you by so many years… I don’t even bother having a birthday anymore, I've almost forgotten when I was even born… I’ve lived for so long…” Bright went to a drawer and pulled it open, grabbing a gun, “maybe this time…”

“J-Jack!”

Bright put 963 on the desk, still holding it, “she deserves so much better than what I can give her.” He shot the Amulet, but nothing happened, “god damn it…” he fired again, nothing happened, “please…” **bang** , nothing, he started crying, “ _please_!” 

“Jack, please stop!”

He fired a couple of times in a row until one round in the gun was left, nothing happened to 963, not even a scratch, “she needs better than me… she deserves better than a disgusting SCP. I’m just a monster who takes people's lives away.” Bright straightened, “Andrea…”

“Jack, please, you’re not a monster. _You_ are _not_ a SCP… I’m sure she didn’t mean it. Even without her memories, I’m sure she still loves you. I-”

“Can you hide 963?”

“W-what?”

“ _Can you hide 963_? Make sure they don’t put it on anyone… I don't want to take anyone else's life.”

“J-Jack, don’t… please don’t… not again…”

Bright started crying and turned the gun on himself, “tell her I’m sorry…”

Andrea jumped at him, moving faster than she thought she could at such an old age, “Jack! Stop!” She grabbed him, pulling him down to the ground. The gun went off, the bullet hitting the wall behind Bright. The room was silent for a few seconds, she had her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, just to make sure. “Jack…” the room filled with sobs and apologies, not only to herself but to you as well, “Jack… it’s ok… I promise.”

“I’m… pathetic… I’m weak…” he lurched and gasped, wracked with grief.

“You are not pathetic or weak, Jack… just because Mikell said that so long ago doesn't mean it’s true. You are the strongest person, next to Ms. Bailey, that I’ve ever known. You’ve been through so much, you’ve seen so much… and still you push on. I know you wish you could die and stay dead… I can’t imagine what you’re going through… but… I’m glad you're still here… I don’t know what would have happened to me if you weren’t.” Andrea moved away and sat next to Bright against the wall, he was still holding 963 and she didn’t want it to accidentally touch her… Dr. Bright would never forgive himself if that happened. 

Bright continued to sob, and leaned into her shoulder, “I don’t deserve her as a partner… I don’t deserve you as a friend… I don’t deserve happiness…”

“Ms. Bailey loves you, Jack… you deserve happiness… and you keep pushing it away, trying to punish yourself, but… you deserve the happiness after being put through hell.”

“I… Andrea…” He shook, choking on his words, “thank you… for everything… you’re the best assistant anyone could ask for... I love you…”

Andrea smiled at him, he usually only said he loved her when he would get wasted to ‘numb the pain’, so it was nice to hear it when he was sober. She rubbed his back gently, “Thanks, Jack… I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I hope you enjoyed it though
> 
> I'm thinking of just posting whenever I want to if I have the chapter written and finished before Friday... so like, if there wasn't an update during the whole week then expect the chapter to be posted on Friday.... does that make sense? Consider bookmarking this story to get notified when I upload a new chapter ^v^
> 
> Thank you for reading, I'd love to hear feedback, advice, theories, etc! I try to reply to every comment!


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *deep breath in*  
> After 2 long... tiring... weeks... here is Chapter 20. It has 15,000 some words.... I worked really hard on this so I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Here are some themes in it; love bite, uncomfortable situations, teased sexy times...  
> so here you go, I really do hope you like it.

You, Dr. Iceberg, and Dr. Gears got off at floor 19 together. You and Iceberg were laughing about something Gears said at lunch and how he didn’t understand why you and him were laughing. They started walking to the left hallway and you started to follow, but something in the back of your head said you needed to go to the right. Iceberg turned around, “Oh! Sorry, Ms. Bailey! Dr. Bright’s office is the opposite way.” Iceberg glanced at Gears as if asking a question, “unless you don’t feel comfortable going to him right now… you could come with us?”

You looked at Gears as well, you were starting to understand minor facial movements he made and you could tell he seemed like he was saying “no” but he was looking at Iceberg so you couldn’t be 100% sure, “uhmm…” You remembered the container you're holding, “oh! Uh, I should probably get this to Dr. Bright… He hates cold spaghetti.” You shook your head slightly, _do I still remember things about him? No… I’m just making an excuse…_

“Oh, yeah! Of course! Of course… uh… well, we’ll see you around. Good luck,” Iceberg and Gears looked at each other, exchanging a quiet conversation, then they turned and left. You watched them for a little bit before taking your own leave. You could feel your heart beginning to pound as you felt closer to Dr. Bright’s office… Would he even want to see you? What if he screams you out more? You don’t think you would be able to handle having that happen again… though, you guess, you do have hot spaghetti in your hands _and_ his face _is_ unprotected. You snicker at the little video in your head as you approached Andrea’s desk, but she’s not sitting there.

You walk closer and peak over the desk as if she was somehow hiding, “uhm… hello? Andrea?” You heard shared swearing in Dr. Bright’s office and shuffling sounds, then the door clicked open and Andrea squeezed out of the office, trying to keep the door as closed as possible. “Hello, sorry about that… how can I-Oh! Dr. Bailey! It’s good to see you again,” Andrea took a seat at her desk and smiled.

“Same to you… how are you? What was happening in there?”

“I’m doing alright, Dr. Bright was… well he needed some _help_... but, I think he’ll be ok now…”

“Uhm… ok… well… I have some food for him. I had a feeling he didn’t get lunch. I-It’s spaghetti too… so…” you looked down at the container, embarrassed about… well you weren’t sure what you were embarrassed about, you just were.

“Oh, how sweet! It looks like it’s still hot too!” She pushed a button on her desk phone, “Dr. Bright, Ms. Bailey is here. May she come in?”  
There was silence for a while, making Andrea look really nervous, “...... Uh, yeah, sure, hm… uhm… yeah, yeah!” Andrea exhaled, relieved, and motioned to the door. You walked to the door, taking a deep breath in, you tried to psych yourself before going in. You grabbed the door handle, heart pounding in your chest, and turned the knob. You exhaled, _stop being so unnecessarily anxious_ , and pushed the door open.

You and Dr. Bright made eye contact immediately, which made you incredibly flustered and look away first. You looked around the room, looking anywhere except at him, but you could feel his eyes laser-focused on you. You felt the heat of a blush rushing to your face and squeezed the container of spaghetti, _why is he staring at me so intensely_? You glanced at him quickly to see if he was truly staring at you, which he was, you gulped and looked at the wall behind him, seeing the bullet hole. You frowned and opened your mouth to ask about it, but he cut you off before you could say anything, “don’t worry about that. What do you want? What is that?” Bright gestured to the container. You really didn’t like his curt tone of voice, so you responded in kind.

“What do I want? I work with you, so obviously I’m here. And this? This is for you, asshole.”

You heard a barely audible chortle, but he kept a serious face, “that wasn’t what I asked, _what_ is it?”

“It’s… well… I…” You sighed loudly, trying to gather your thoughts, “I-I had a feeling… you hadn’t eaten… I… I uhm… remember th-that… if you get upset, you don’t usually go to lunch, so… I brought you lunch. It’s… It’s spaghetti and I remember that it’s… one of your favorites…”

“...I…”

“I-It’s ok if you don’t want it! It’s… It’s not really hot anymore, a-and…!”

You saw Bright’s shoulder relax and his face soften, lowering his walls, “no, it’s… it’s fine. Bring it over.” You walked over hesitantly and put the container down on his desk. He stared down at it for a bit before popping it open, you could see a small smile play on his lips, “thank you.” You heard him quietly whisper in shock, “you even remember how much parmesan I like on it… and the mushrooms…”

“What?”

“Huh? Oh! Uhm… I mean… Thank you very much.”

“Hmm… you’re welcome…” You glanced back at the hole in the wall, “what happened? Why was Andrea in here?”

You saw him put his walls back up immediately, “that doesn’t pertain to anything, but if I must answer… The bullet hole is old.”

“What about Andrea?”

“She’s my assistant, she was helping me with paperwork”

“...Right…” You looked at him suspiciously as he pulled a drawer open and pulled out a fork. He started eating while you just stood there, unsure of what to do, “desk fork… nice… uhm… what should I be doing?”

“I don’t know, definitely not be standing there watching me eat.”

“I-uck… you… fine, whatever. I’m going to go and familiarize myself with this floor then,” you turn away quickly and walk out angrily. You didn’t know it, but Bright watched you leave sadly with his hand outstretched.

~~~

Andrea had tried stopping you from leaving, but you just walked past her without saying anything. You didn’t want to hang around where you weren’t wanted. The hallway felt… empty… though there were people walking around together, talking quietly. There were some other people walking alone and holding files or writing stuff down. You got some looks from them, but you weren’t sure what they were saying in the looks. Were they judging you about the past? Were they confused as to who you were? You didn’t know and you kind of didn’t care.

You were looking from left to right, reading the names on the doors to see who is where and hoping maybe you would recognize one. But, by the time you got to the end of the hall and arrived at a locked door, you hadn’t recognized anyone's names. You sighed and walked to the card scanner at the double doors, hoping that your I.D would work. You grabbed your I.D from your chest and started to get ready to swipe when they opened by themselves. Well, actually, Dr. Glass opened them, and he was walking with a strange-looking man with a symbol engraved on his forehead. You looked on with curiosity, _God… did the Foundation do that to him_?

Glass looked surprised to see you, but happy, “Oh! I was just telling 073 about you and what happened.” He thought about what he said for a moment, “Oh… I should have asked you if I could talk about it with other people, I’m sorry!”

“What? No… I’m sure just about everyone knows about it. I don’t think Clef can keep his mouth shut. And… this man is an SCP? Like… Dr. Bright?”

“Huh? Oh no, definitely not like Dr. Bright. Basically immortal, yes, but two completely different situations. Plus, 073 is way nicer,” Glass joked. You smiled and looked up at 073, in which 073 smiled in kind.

073 reached out his hand, “it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Cain, but basically, all the Foundation staff refer to me as ‘073’. Please refer to me however you like or however you are required.”

You shook his hand, “it’s nice to meet you too. I would call you by your name, but unfortunately, I believe The Foundation requires I call you by your SCP designation. Sorry...”

“Oh no, I understand. I’ve been told that quite often. Now… Dr. Glass brought me to Site-19 to read over 963’s, Dr. Bright’s, and your files.”

“Oh… why is that?”

“I just tend to be allowed to read all the SCP files and other needed ones as a means to ‘save’ them in case they are lost.” 073 tapped his head, “I have a photographic memory.”

You nodded and looked at the symbol on his forehead, “what-?”

“Ahem… hem…” Glass fake coughed and gave you a ‘don’t ask about it’ look. “Anyway… I was taking him to a psychological check-up, usually, I do that at Site-17, but 073 was transferred over here for a while until he’s read everything.”

“Oh… but isn’t your office on the back the way you came from?”

“Well, you see… I have a lot of plants in that office and I’d rather them not die, especially my cactus.”

“What does that have to do with 073?”

“Well, one of his anomalous attributes is what happens when he’s around organic plant matter, the plants die.” You nodded and glanced back up at 073. _Damn… he’s really tall… and cute as fuck. What the fuck? Why are some SCPs attractive? Wait, no, Dr. Bright isn’t attractive. He isn’t attractive. **He isn’t attractive**_. You clapped your cheeks a couple of times, trying to hide your blushing, “are you ok, Dr. Bailey?”

“Huh? Oh! Uhm… I’m fine, just thinking about something. Well… you probably have a lot to do, so I should let you guys get going.” You started walking to the door, but 073 grabbed your arm gently to stop you. Out of reflex, you turned your body to him slightly while twisting your wrist and arm enough to grab his wrist, then you pulled him down towards you and went in to punch him, stopping just before you could, “Ah!!” You and him stared at each other for a moment, until you felt a rush of heat through your whole body and to your face, “oh! Fuck! I’m sorry! It’s just…”

073 shook his head as you let go and rubbed his wrist where you grabbed, “I should be saying sorry, I had no intention of scaring you, but I believe… I have a feeling, that it is more accurate to say, that you should not continue down that direction.” You looked from him to the door behind you, to a concerned looking Glass, and then to 073. You weren’t sure what to say to him, but you did believe him for some reason so you nodded at him, making 073 relaxed a bit. “Mayhap you come with us? I am very interested in hearing your story,” 073 spoke softly. You thought for a moment, _should I? Or should I go back to Dr. Bright’s office? Hmm…_

“I think I’ll come with, for now, and if I feel up for it… I’ll go back to Dr. Bright’s office once we pass by.”

“That sounds good. What are your thoughts, Dr. Glass?”

Glass looked like he was deep in thought until he realized you and 073 were looking at him, “huh? Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, that sounds good to me.” The three of you began walking to Dr. Glass’ second office and made short talk, during a moment of silence you looked back towards the door and made a mental note to go explorer the section 3 hall later. 

~~~

You sat outside Dr. Glass’ office waiting for him and 073 to finish their session, you had decided against going back to Bright’s office out of bitterness for his disregard of your kind gesture of bringing him food, _one of his favorite foods at that_. Your leg started to shake up and down as you mulled over your interactions with him, confused as to why it hurt you so much for him to act like that towards you. The door slid open to the office, making you jump a little, and heard Glass call out for you. You stood up and walked into the room, 073 was looking at you with a smile and Glass was looking down at a paper, writing, and blushing deeply. You tilted your head in confusion, “yes?”

073 looked at Glass, as if waiting for something, but Glass didn’t look up or say anything, “...Dr. Glass. If you will not, I will in place of you.”

Glass looked up quickly, “uh… No, 073… uhm… I can do it m-myself…” He cleared his throat and sort of looked at you while doing self-soothing with his hands, “u-uh… Miss Bailey… er- Dr. Bailey, wou-..would you l-like to go on a-a d-ate? With me! With me… not 073.” 073 rolled his eyes but kept a smile on his face.

“I-... what? Why?” You cringed at yourself for saying that, you hoped he didn’t take asking why as an insult, “er- I mean…” You had to think for a moment as a voice in the back of your mind screamed ‘no, don’t do it’, but you ignored it. _This is a perfect opportunity to get back at Bright, we’ll see if he truly feels I’m nothing to him_ , “Yes, I will. I’ll go out with you… it would be a nice change of pace…”

“Oh, ok, I understan- wait did you say yes?”

“I did.”

“Oh! Awesome! Ok, uhhh… I know a place off-site we could go to. I think you would really like it. Let’s go tomorrow?”

“That sounds good to me,” you smiled and walked over to sit next to 073. “Are we talking about 963 and the accident?” Glass nodded and pulled out a file labeled ‘SCP - 963 - 1’, “is that… Dr. Bright’s file also?”

“No, Dr. Bright has his own personnel profile. Though, some personnel think his profile should be _in_ the 963 files. But I, and… the council… decided against it, as it could affect his mental health.”

“Oh… I see… is it the same as calling him ‘him’ rather than ‘it’?”

“Yes… we also refrain from calling him ‘963’. A doctor continuously called him that during test prep on 682… it didn’t really work out for that doctor, frankly. Since then, people have been careful about how they address him.”

A vague memory fluttered in your head, “it was… Dr. Samet… right? And the test… was to take over 682’s body?”

“Uhh… yes…” Glass flipped to an empty page in his notebook and started writing, “so, you do have the memories still, but it’s as if they’re locked away until needed or if something reminds you…” He looked up at you slightly and pushed his glasses up, “am I right?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve noticed. But, if I actively try to remember… I can’t. It just usually comes out of nowhere.”

“Hmm… that’s really interesting… so, you don’t remember me from the past? Or don’t remember most of everything?”

“Uhm…” You had to think for a moment before answering, the way he phrased that seemed very strange, “no, I don’t remember much of anything besides a weird feeling about your voice.”

“I see… hmm… well… nevermind that. Let’s talk about this accident,” Glass flipped open the file and began writing as you spoke. During the whole discussion, 073 stayed quiet, absorbing everything you and Dr. Glass said. It didn’t take long to explain what happened during the breach and what happened while wearing 963, which made you start tearing up and made Glass look concerned and confused. “Well… we can talk more about that later if you would like. I feel you would benefit more in a private session rather than writing a report,” Glass reached across the desk and grabbed a tissue then handed to you. You nodded and sniffled, feeling pathetic for crying over a visual hallucination. 073 touched your shoulder and gently rubbed up and down, trying to comfort you… which you appreciated a lot.

“Thanks… I’m sorry for getting emotional.”

“You’re fine, Dr. Bailey. Emotions aren’t a sign of weakness,” 073 said reassuringly and squeezed your shoulder. You were about to say thank you again when an alarm started going off. It was a familiar alarm, one that terrified you to the core, and gave you a primal urge to run far away. All three of you stood up quickly and ran out to the hall to see what was happening. There was a loud roaring sound, prompting Glass to whisper, “the fucking lizard broke containment… oh fuck… fuck…” His voice was shaking, “we need to go to the safe room. Right. Now.” You nodded and ran behind him with 073 to get to a safe room.

~~~

Once you had left, Dr. Bright poked at the spaghetti you had brought him. He was starving, yet he felt sick to his stomach at the way he treated you. _Why does this hurt so much? I do this to everyone that starts getting close to me… so, why is it different for you_? He stabbed his fork into the spaghetti, maybe too aggressively, spun it around, and lifted it to his mouth. As Bright put the fork in his mouth, Andrea opened the door quickly and loudly, surprising him and making him choke for a moment. Bright took the fork away and started coughing, “An-drea c-can’t y-you kn-ock… pl-ease? F-u-ck…” He looked at Andrea’s face, she was visibly angry which caused him to stiffen and clear his throat, “...y-yes…?”

“Don’t you ‘yes?’ me. You know exactly why I came in here.”

“Ahem… hmm… do I?”

“Boy, this old lady will kick your ass, don’t get smart with me.”

“Huuuhhh… fine… fine… it’s about y/n, right?” Andrea crossed her arms, nodded, and gave her best ‘I’ll kill you’ look, “fine! I’ll admit! I… I didn’t say sorry. I just… I just made things worse.”

Andrea threw her hands up and walked into the office all the way, shutting the door behind her, “for the love of… Jack, you just needed to say sorry to her! And then thank her for the food! Sometimes you baffle me with how stupid you can be.”

“Hey! I said thank you! … Maybe just not… loud enough… but! I still said it! And sometimes I baffle myself with my stupidity!... As for saying sorry… it wouldn’t sound honest, I can’t apologize enough to her with everything I’ve done…”

“She doesn’t remember that stuff, Jack… plus you didn’t do anything that terrible… did you?”

He looked at her in silence for a long time before answering, “they’re dead… J████ and S███… I-I… I feel like it’s my fault… if… if their guard, Dian, was there… they would have been saved. I’m the one who got him killed…”

“... They’re… They’re dead…? Why… didn’t you tell me?”

“I… I don’t know… I don’t remember… I’m sorry, Andrea…”

Andrea took a deep breath in, then let it out, “Dr. Bright, I’m not stupid. I know they’re dead. I read over your reports before sending them in, remember? I was just waiting for you to tell me yourself. You apologized to me for hiding it… so why don’t you do that to her? Tell her… she deserves to know everything.”

Bright was a little surprised, but also not really… but again, she was right. You did deserve to know, “then… I should go now?”

“Yes, obviously!”

No sooner she said that a call came in. It was directly to his desk phone, meaning it was a severe emergency. Bright glanced at Andrea and slowly answered the phone, “hello?” 

“ _[CONTAINMENT BREACH - SECTION 3 - SCP 682! PLEASE SOUND ALARM IN ALL SECTORS!]_ ” The phone cracked and disconnected prompting Bright to open a very small drawer and hit the button inside causing the alarms to go off. Bright stood up, “alright… we should probably get to safety… Andrea?”

She looked horrified and fear filled her eyes, “J-Jack… Dr. Bailey went that direction…”

“I… what? What?! Fuck! **Fuck**! This is my fault! If i just- Ugh! I… I’m going in there.”

“Normally I would tell you not to, but… I think this is an exception. I’m going to the safe room towards sector 1… please be careful.” Bright nodded and ran off towards sector 3, pushing his way through the panicked crowd. He _needed_ to find you, you weren’t replaceable like he was. As he was going through the crowd, he looked around to see if anyone was you, but there was no luck. Bright ran through the still open doors as he heard the loud and horrifying roar of 682, which made him freeze. What was he going to do if you were there? Fight 682? He had no power to fight 682. He was useless. _But what if… you die? I… I can’t let that happen_ , Bright looked down the hall and squeezed his hands into a tight fist, _let’s do this_.

Bright ran down the hall towards where the MTF would come from, he couldn’t do anything by himself, so he might as well help them however he could. He saw them in a group together, walking towards the breach, and called out to them, almost getting shot, “woah, woah, it’s just me!”

“Bright?! What the hell are you doing here?! Get the fuck out of here and to a safe room!” Commander Cook yelled, he was always a hard ass.

“Go To A SaFe RoOm,” Bright mocked him. “Fuck you, no. I’m going with, plus if I die… I can just be put on a new body.”

“I swear to fucking god, Bright, if you fuck this up for us…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, let’s get a move on. I’m going on ahead.”

“Dr. Bright!” Cook yelled after him, “the son of bitch is going to get us killed.”

Bright didn’t know where he was going exactly, he just followed his ears and he could tell he was getting closer. There was a giant hole in the hallway around the corner, a big hole at that. Bright walked up to it carefully and looked down, he could see all the way to sublevel 22, grant it… it was only 3 sublevels below him which wasn't too far down, but it sure as hell felt like it was all the way down to sublevel 40 just standing by the hole. Bright followed the path of destruction with his eyes until he landed on a consistent path, 682 was weaving in and out of offices that could have people in them just to cause more death. _Predictable_ , Bright rolled his eyes. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and a roar came from the left side of Bright. Bright turned and saw the giant lizard coming towards him just as his phone rang and scared him. He answered, panicked, “u-uh h-hello? I’m a bit busy right n **NOW**!” Bright ran out of 682’s way, barely dodging it. 

“Jack! It’s Andrea! Get out of there, now.”

“B-But!”

“She’s fine, she’s in the safe room with me. Said she went with Glass and 073 to his other office.”

“Oh! Oh… ok…” He stopped running, “thank goodness… I’ll be- _**crunch**_ ”

~~~

Once 682 was recontained, everyone was cleared to leave. A lot of people leaving the room grumbled about reconstruction and stuff they lost in the breach, Glass being one of those people. “Fuck, I hope my plants are ok, specifically Stanley, the others can be replaced,” Glass sighed and put his hands on top of his head. “Anyway… what happened to Dr. Bright, Andrea?”

“Oh uh… we were cut off, I think he may have been eaten or killed.”

“Let’s hope it’s not ‘eaten’, you know what happened last time…”

Andrea gave a dry chuckle, “yeah… what a mess.” 

Security came around the corner, blocking everyone’s path, which made everyone confused, “Hello, everyone! Please go to the cafeteria as per usual to do a headcount, thank you.” Everyone groaned and began moving forward, like a herd of zebras. You stood still, waiting for everyone to pass by and leave so you could walk in the back. You followed after everyone, people breaking off in groups to go up the stairs and others to the elevators. You were confused about which way would be faster and more convenient, especially with the mass amount of people going through. But, your thoughts were interrupted by a violent buzzing on your hip, scaring the shit out of you. You reached into your pocket slowly, _I don’t… remember getting a phone…_ But, low and behold, a phone is in your pocket, which continued buzzing. You stared at it hesitantly before answering, “h-hello?”

A sickly cheery female voice responded, “Ah! Hello, this is Ms. Bailey, correct?” You made a small sound trying to say yes, but she didn’t even wait, “great! Anyway, please head down to sublevel 21 immediately! Thank you~~!” She hung up before you could ask why you were needed there. You stared at your phone and sighed, then put it in your pocket and walked to the stairs. You could hear the people going up chatting, but there was only silence from downstairs. You could feel your skin prickle as the further you went down the dimmer the lights would get. It was ridiculous how scary it was to walk down the stairs, but the fear must’ve made the trip faster because you saw ‘21’ painted in black on a door. You breathed a sigh of relief and walked to it, pulling out your id, and swiping it. The door responded with a happy beep, a green light, and the sound of the locks releasing. 

You pushed the door open, with some strain, and saw the mess that was sublevel 21. There was dust and rubble everywhere, walls were collapsed, and light from the above floors flooded in. If there was any humor in this disaster, it would be the fact that the receptionist’s desk was fine except for a thin layer of dust. _Bright would’ve made a joke if he saw that_ , you shook your head at those thoughts. You did want to think about him, especially not positively. You walked over to the desk, being careful where you stepped, where a lady, who you were guessing was the one who called you. She saw you and smiled widely, she really didn’t seem all there, but maybe it was just because of what happened, “hello! Ms. Bailey, right?”

“Y-”

“Good! Great!” She stood up, dusted herself off, and then began walking down to the cleaner hall, “it’s not super necessary for you to even be here, but for sick curiosity… the other scientists want to see you handle 963 with your bare hands.”

“Ah… I see… news travels fast, huh?”

“Oh, definitely, never trust Clef with a secret. He’s great at keeping his own but when it comes to someone else’s… it tends to ‘slip out’.”

“I guessed………. Wait, did you just say handle 963? But that means-”

“Oh yeah, he died. Getting bitten in half isn’t really something you can come back from,” she mumbled the last bit, “especially witnessing it.”

“So… Andrea was right… he did go there to find me…”

“Oh, I don’t know about _that_... we haven’t gotten the chance to ask him why he was there. He only interacted with Commander Cook and the rest of the MTF for a moment.”

“Commander Cook? Dang… guess she rose up in the ranks pretty fast…”

“Huh? Oh! No, no, no, you’re thinking of Officer Cook, the Commander's daughter. He wouldn’t even let her get _near_ a major breach.”

You nodded even though she couldn’t see you. _That would explain how she ended up here…_ you thought to yourself. The lady stopped walking and gestured to a door, not saying anything besides giving another creepy-ish smile. You gave her a forced smile then quickly scanned your card and went into the room. It was dark in the room, so dark, you actually couldn’t see your own hand on your face, which caused you to start panicking, _oh god, I’m blind, aren’t I? Why can’t I see? What the fuck is happening? Is this a trap? Man, I’m so fucked…_ You started to breath heavily and get light headed until something wet touches your neck, making you recoil against the wall. 

“Ohhh… deaar… don’t ffearr meee… let’sss both enjjoyy thisss…” a voice hissed. It legitimately sounded like what you would expect a snake to sound like if it could talk, which brought more fear to your body but also sent a rush of curiosity through your body. You felt hands grab your upper arms and push you hard against the wall, a hot exhale of air hit your neck, and then the wetness returned. You felt it travel from the center of your throat all the way to the right side and then up towards your ear. You could feel your heart pounding in your chest, the warmth flowing down your body, and the fuzziness that were supposed to be thoughts rushing in your mind. _Fight. I need to fight. Somehow. I-I think… it-it’s hard to th-think… what’s even happening_?

You felt a chortle in your ear and then heard a stomach dropping voice, “hmhmhm… arrren’t you… haaviing fffun, hmm?” You felt goosebumps burst across your entire body and air being sucked out of your lungs. The thing chortled again in your ear and moved down to the crook of your neck, then licked a sensitive spot, making you jolt slightly. “Mhmhmmhm… vvveryy int-er-essting…” You could feel sharp teeth graze over the sensitive spot in a teasing motion, making you whimper, “mmm… mmiiinne.” You could feel the sharp pressure of teeth pushing into your neck, until you couldn’t feel anything anymore. “Ms. Bailey? Ms. Bailey! Hello?”

You snapped your eyes open and looked towards the voice, it was a doctor you didn’t know with a couple others, they all looked confused, “u-uhm… yes… hello…”

“Are you ok? You looked scared for a second…”

“Huh? Oh, no, I just… it was so dark in here and it freaked me out.”

The scientists looked at each other and then to you, “the lights were never out, Ms. Bailey. Are you sure you’re feeling alright? Did the containment breach affect you that badly? Or is it about Dr. Bright?”

“Oh! Oh yeeaahh… definitely affected by the breach,” you tried your best to sound truthful and confident. You probably didn’t sound it though, so you sidetracked them with a follow-up question, “oh! Uh… where is Dr. Bright?”

“Oh, well, we have it in a box in the viewing room. Er- it as in 963, not Dr. Bright. Officer Cook is getting a person for Dr. Bright’s consciousness. She should be back any time now.” You sighed in relief that they resumed doing… whatever they were doing, you weren’t sure, but, hey, it got them to stop asking what just happened. You walked over to a table with straps on it while rubbing your neck, confused as to what just happened yourself. As soon as you stood at the table, the door buzzed and Officer Cook came in with some random D-Class, who seemed to recognize you, though you didn’t recognize him. There was no conversation between the two of you, just silent eye contact as he was forced onto the table and strapped down.

You broke eye contact first to look at another doctor, “can someone bring 963 down here? In the box, I mean! I’ll put the amulet on this guy.” You could hear the D-Class mock you quietly which brought things back, so you looked at him in his eyes and pushed a threatening aura through the air and a threat in your eyes. He shut up and looked terrified immediately, but it also affected the other scientists, one of which quickly went to retrieve the box 963 is in. You looked up and at the lead scientist, who flinched at you looking at him, “so, did he really get bitten in half?”

“U-uh… Dr. Bright? Y-yeah… luckily it was from the feet up to his stomach and not the other way. Nobody wants to go through _that_ again.” A young scientist came over to the table with a box and handed to the lead, “ah here we are… now... put it on him. Let’s see if this resistance is real and not just a one-time flook.”

You took the box from him, glaring, and opened the box. It was strange seeing Dr. Bright like this… stuck inside 963 with nobody to project on. What was it like in there? Was it peaceful? Was it like dying? A void? The more you thought of it, the more you felt bad and curious about what his mental health was like. You reached down and grabbed it, you could feel the tension in the air and hear the audible gasp from the other scientists. The metal felt cold on your skin but quickly heated up to match yourself. You rubbed your thumb over the blood-red gem as if to comfort the man trapped within and you swore you could see a faint glow and hear a static-y voice calling out. You realized you’ve been standing and staring at 963 for far too long so you looked up and around at everyone, “I just put it on the D-Class, right?” Everyone exhaled in relief, some looking shocked at the fact you were still you, but you didn’t understand why.

“Yes, you just- careful. Just put it around his neck and he’ll be Dr. Bright.”

“Alright… alright…” you put it around the D-Class’ neck and watched his fearful eyes become glazed over then full of a familiar light of life that was Dr. Bright. “Hello? Er- Dr. Bright?” His eyes widened and tried to sit up quickly, but the straps held him down, “woah, woah… I know I’m probably not the first voice you want to hear after coming back, but… they wanted to see if I could still touch 963 without any effects.”

“They- you-,” Dr. Bright jerked his head to the side to look at the lead scientist, “she could’ve died if it didn’t work! What the hell is wrong with you? Did you even get permission to do such a thing, you fucking idiot?!”

“Er- n-no, sir… we’re sorry- er… well, _I’m_ sorry… it was my idea, not theirs.”

“Bright, just… leave it alone. I’m fine. Plus, you shouldn’t even care.”

“B-But… I-I…”

“Save it… I’m leaving. I’m sure Dr. Glass is worried about me.”

Bright tried sitting up but was jerked back again, “w-wait…!” You glanced back at him, feeling a slight pang of guilt, but you left anyway… just to spite him.

~~~

He could feel you looking at him. He could feel you holding him. He could feel the comforting rub of your thumb on the gem and the warmth you brought with your hand was… Bright felt like he was going to cry. It was all so overwhelming to be able to truly _feel_ again… like it was his own, old, original body. When he was in a host body and being touched, it was as if he were in 2 thick hoodies; he could feel people but he couldn’t _feel_ people. How could he even tell it was you? Only you could really touch his soul. The feeling of true human touch made a heart he didn’t know he had in his soul pound and glow in his chest. He put his soul hand on the gem and called out to you, “please don’t leave me! Please I’m sorry for everything! Please forgive me… I-I still-!”

He was yanked from your touch violently and forced into another person's mind, killing them in the process like the parasite he was. Bright wanted to stay in the amulet, if it brought you to touch it, he wanted to stay. He just wanted to _**feel**_ more. Your touch was a drug to him now… now that he knows you can touch his true self, he wants more. When he came to in the body and heard you speak, he wanted nothing more than to sit up and grab you. Bright wanted to hug you and cry and tell you he was sorry, but he was still strapped down and unable to move. So, instead, he keenly listened to what you were saying.

Hearing you say that he didn’t want to hear you first thing after being brought back had him screaming in his own mind, er… Shane’s-er D-1927’s mind. But, he lost his words when you said the other researchers made you put him on someone with no protection. Grant it, you weren’t hurt… but you could have been. Bright was going to chew them out, but you defended them… and now you had more power over him then you even knew. But being told that he shouldn’t even care about you and then… mentioning _him_ sent him in a frenzy to get out of the straps. Even as he struggled, he saw you look back at him, but… all you did was leave him on a surgical table and he knew he deserved it, it didn’t make it hurt less, but it’s what he did to you… so it was only fair.

~~~

Going up the stairs to floor 16 and only being on 19, you were already winded. _Damn… I need to get in shape… fuck, man_ , you looked up at the stairs that lay before you and decide to take a seat instead, just long enough to catch your breath. As you were relaxing, you could hear stomping coming down the steps, which made you look up to the sound, fear bubbling in your throat. You were ready to fight or run at any moment until you see a familiar blue sweater paired with a lab coat and his top rimless glasses and messy blonde hair. He froze in place when you two made eye contact and then relaxed, “I-I didn’t see you at the cafeteria and I got worried that something might have happened to you… uhh… W-what happened?”

“I’m ok… well… since Dr. Bright died, some researchers wanted to see me handle 963 without any protection,” you shrug.

“What!? What if-”

“Ugh, you and Bright… I’m fine, see? I’m sitting here, alive and well.”

“Still… huhhh… I guess, as long as you’re ok,” there was a short awkward pause as Glass fidgeted with his hands. “Uhm… I know now seems like a stupid time… but since the breach… and the clean-up… I was wondering if you would like to-”

“Yeah, let’s go… I could do with a little time away from this place,” you smiled at him. He smiled back and walked over, reaching his hand out to help you up. He pulled you up and close to himself, whether on purpose or not, it made you blush a bit. You and him chatted about different things as you went upstairs. Some of the things he would say would bring back minor memories about Glass and other things about the Foundation. Glass was interested in the recall but also seemed scared about it for some reason. You didn’t know why though, everything was fine, you and him were fine. More than what your memories said, _maybe that was just past me making things bad and now I’m a new me_.

As for the restaurant, it was really nice, like super nice. Expensive as all fuck as well. You tried to order something on the cheaper side but Glass insisted that you could get whatever you wanted no matter the price. “Oh no… I couldn’t… it’s so expensive here. Like, look at this, a 6 oz steak with 2 sides for $40!” You smacked the spot on the menu, trying to emphasize what you’re trying to say.

“No, it’s ok, if that’s what you want, you can get it. Plus it’s wagyu!”

“Wag-what? No, no, I don’t-”

“ _I said, **get whatever you want, no matter the price** ’, Ms. Bailey_,” Glass had a smile and a nice look in his eyes, but his voice was extremely aggressive. It really threw you off, _hmm… maybe I’m just being dumb… I bet he’s just stressed about the breach and how I feel, so he’s just trying to be nice by treating me to something expensive_...

“Oh, well… ok… since you insist…”

“How about wine? Do you want any?”

“Uhh… no… I don-”

“ _How about some wine? I think you would like sweet pinks or reds_.”

You stayed quiet for a bit, “... yeah, sure…”

“Wonderful! Let’s try some samples to see what you’ll like the best,” Glass waved the waiter over and began asking for samples of certain wines, and then you both ordered food. You sat at the table, feeling awkward about how he was acting, which he must’ve sensed, “I-I’m sorry about that… about how I just acted. It wasn’t right of me to push you like that… I can cancel the wine samplings and you can change your order if you want. I’m really sorry.”

“I’m just glad you said sorry… Everything is fine, plus it’s a bit too late now, the wine samples are coming over,” you nodded your head in the direction behind him which made him turn to look. He turned back and looked at you, you could see he was repeatedly saying sorry in his eyes. You just smiled reassuringly at him and he relaxed. You began trying samples of wines, making a variety of faces at the different tastes, none of them being sweet by any means. Glass giggled at your reactions and you childishly stuck your tongue out at him, which made him laugh a bit more and made you smile in return. It was the closest thing to ‘normal’ you’ve had in a long _long_ time…

The food was divine, it was hard to describe how good it was, _guess that’s why it’s so expensive_. You started cleaning the table up a bit to make it easier on the waiter to clean up, while Glass went to go pay the bill. Once you finished, you sat and waited for Glass, he was in a line so it would probably take a bit. You jolted a little bit at the buzzing in your pocket, you grabbed it and saw a notification for a text. “Alright… what the hell? This thing can text too? It’s like a lightweight small brick? I wonder…” you opened the message and saw the name attached to it, ‘Site Director Jack Bright’. You let out an aggressive sigh and were tempted to not even look at what he had said and delete it, but you knew better and it could be an emergency. You opened the message and snorted loud enough that you had to cover your face, you actually started tearing up because you were trying not to laugh. All the message was, was a picture of the pristine desk surrounded in the breach disaster on floor 21 with the caption ‘Next please’. You hated that you laughed at such a stupid thing, but it was 100% what Jack would say. You turned the phone off and shook your head, _no, no, no, no! No first name. He is only ‘Dr. Bright’, that’s it. He doesn’t… he doesn’t deserve the first name…_  
You must have looked frustrated or confused because when Glass walked up, he nudged you lightly, “hey you ok? You look upset… do you want to talk about it?”

“Huh? No, no… just a lot on my mind. So much has happened since I graduated… I can’t believe Halloween is like 2 weeks away.”

“Yeah… speaking of… do you want to do… like a c-couples costume? Er… if that’s ok… i-if that’s what we are! Sorry, I don’t want to put pressure on you with that…”

“Oh, no, that sounds fun! Hmm… maybe we could do, like, Dracula and bride of Dracula, or something?”

“Oh! I like that,” he holds his hand out and pulls you up. You and him begin walking out, “I know someone who can do pretty good makeup effects and can probably make a good vampire bite mark on your neck!” You excitedly nodded, but you could feel your entire body flush, recalling the experience in the lab and the extreme darkness with the… snake-like-something creature. The hands felt like human hands, the teeth were snake/kitten/puppy-like, and the voice sounded like a snake. You had no idea what it could have been. A person? Drugs? Shock? An SCP? 

“Hey, you ok? You seem pretty lost in thought.”

“What? Oh! Sorry! What did you say?”

“Do you want to go to a movie?”

“Hmm… sure, beats being at The Foundation right now,” you said, making Glass chuckle in response. You both went into a theater, someone following close behind. Nothing would come of it, of course. For now.

~~~

Over the course of a week, Dr. Bright went through 20 D-Class personnel, requesting you to be the one to put it on someone new. You assumed it was because you were the only one able to handle it safely without gloves. Maybe there was an underlying reason, but you didn’t know for sure. The reason for the excessive body count? More than half were tests, checking genetic components to see if there was anything that had to do with take-over time. You had noticed, during transfers, that some D-Class would take longer than others to change to Dr. Bright. So you and him began testing different genetic sequences, seeing which took longer. As for the other few, it seemed Dr. Bright would start acting strange if he stayed in a body for too long, which made you worried, but yet more irritated at the constant change. There were times he would stay attached to your side, which confused you, and other times he would push you away. That constant change pissed you off, you couldn’t get a good read on him at all. Did he like you or does he hate you today? That was the daily game.

 **6 days until the Halloween party;** Dr. Bright walked into the lab room, he was late today, but you couldn’t be bothered to nag him about it. He walked over to where you were sitting and proceeded to peek over your shoulder to see what you were doing. You could feel the amulet on your back, which was a daily thing. Somehow, someway, the amulet would touch you for a little bit until you got annoyed and told him off. It was like he was testing to see if it would erase you, which it didn’t obviously, but he’d better be careful because maybe one day… it would erase you. You sat up straight, feeling your back push on Dr. Bright’s chest, and seeing Dr. Bright’s head resting on your shoulder, _ah, so it’s that kind of day_. You took your right glove off and shoved the smelly latex hand into his face, “Dr. Bright, must I remind you of personal space?”

“Well, no, I know what it is and what it means,” he shrugged, he had a small smile playing on his lips.

You squinted at him, “mmhmm, sure, then why don’t you give me it?”

“That’ll be 2 dollars, please.”

You quickly covered your face to make it look like you were sneezing, and laughed into your hands, “ahem… no.”

“Alright, you run a hard bargain… but I can go to $1.50.”

“Again, no,” you were trying your best not to laugh and humor him, it would only encourage this behavior more.

“Damn… now, this is a really valuable thing, y/n,” Bright saying your name made your heart skip. “The lowest I’m willing to go is a dollar.”

“Are you really trying to haggle me for my personal space?”

“Perhaps, depends on who’s askin’.”

You closed your eyes, trying your best not to lose it, “Dr. Bright…”

“Hmmm?”

“Here’s your fucking dollar,” you took your wallet out and handed him a dollar with a genuine smile on your face. This felt natural… it felt good.

“Ah-ha! Yoink!” He took the dollar bill, “I’m going to go get a sniiickers!”

“You and I both know you like Reese's more,” you froze after you spoke and so did Dr. Bright. He stood in the doorway, looking at you, something shining in his eyes… hope, maybe?

“You right,” Bright ducked out of the room and to a nearby vending machine, at least that’s what you guessed. You stared at the entrance for a while before turning back to your work, _Reese’s, huh? Yeah… especially this time of year when they’re in the shape of a pumpkin_. You laughed to yourself and got up to wash your hands since you took your right one off, lab safety and all that. You threw the gloves into a hazard container and started washing your hands while humming to yourself and looking at your reflection in the wet steel sink. Something red dripped down into the sink and was washed away by the water, but soon the dripping was consistently 3 seconds apart. It looked like blood… You snapped your head up to the ceiling but you couldn’t see anything, however, you did feel wetness travel down your face. You put your hand to your nose, took it away, and saw blood, _what the fuck_?

You reached over, grabbed a hand towel, and put it onto your nose. You could see some of it turn red pretty quickly, _what is happening to me? What spurred this_? You walked over to a nearby chair and sat down, feeling just a little bit dizzy, which was a pretty good idea because as soon as you sat down, you could feel a sharp pain in your brain. You winced, holding the towel closer to your nose in reflex. You could see someone come into the room and hear a muffled voice, only able to work out ‘ok?’. If you had to guess who it was, it was definitely Dr. Bright… it was only you and him scheduled for this lab. “J-Ja..ck?” You nasally asked, in response you heard a muffled voice and a gentle touch on your shoulder. As soon as he touched you, it felt like you had been touched by a dying taser. ‘Sparking’ something in the back of your mind.

_You walked into a lab that was full of ‘newbies’ plus one idiot. Your idiot. You hadn’t seen him in a long time since he was training some people in. He usually was only there to supervise, but some training researchers didn’t bother to show up. You looked down different aisles of the lab, looking for Jack and also peaking at the new people. You got to the second to last aisle and saw him with one of the training researchers… a girl one. It sparked a bit of anger and jealousy even though Jack looked incredibly annoyed and tired. You watched the interaction for a bit, Jack leaned up against the wall like he was watching everyone before being cornered and the researcher was really close to him. She looked like she was trying to seduce him but Jack just had a bored expression, until she put a finger on his manubrium*. He froze from moving, not even breathing, as she dragged her finger down slowly. You were about to come out to ask what was happening but Jack grabbed the woman’s wrist roughly, “don’t fucking touch me. Especially not where 963 is. Go bother some other dude, this one is taken.” He threw her hand away from him, real anger in his eyes until he looks up and sees you. He shifts from the ‘oh shit’ look, to ‘I can play it off’, and then to ‘no, I’m fucked’._

_The female researcher pushed past you, her name tag reading ‘Dr. Anwir’, and you watched her walk away and into a different aisle, glaring at her all the way. “I-I guess you saw that… didn’t you?” You looked at Jack and crossed your arms, making him rub the back of his head and try to laugh it off, “it wasn’t anything, honestly. I-”_

_“Jack, come on… I saw everything. So I know what happened,” you tried to sound as vague as possible, trying to see if he would divulge anything you missed. He just looked relieved._

_“Oh, thank goodness… I was worried for a moment…”_

_“So… Anwir?”_

_“Oh, her? Yeah… she started working at The Foundation a year before you and when I was supervising her, and others, training, she took an interest in 963.”_

_“Oh no…”_

_“Interest in 963 led to an interest in me. I thought she was genuinely interested in me, though. So, I asked her to dinner.”_

_“So you do that with all the new people?” You raised an eyebrow._

_“W-What?! N-no! I don’t! Well… I mean…” he sighed. “ ‘Be honest with me 100%, Jack’... right… yes I **did** do it basically every year. It was easier to date someone when they knew nothing about your past.” The alarm for lunch went off, prompting Jack to use his ‘leader’ voice, “alright, everyone! Quickly clean up and head to lunch!” His ‘leader’ voice, something about it made you shudder, and not in the bad way. You pulled a bit on his lab coat and he gave you a confused look before catching the hint, “er- I mean… You all are dismissed! Have a good rest of your day and be sure to study the SCPs you’ll be assigned to!” Everyone quickly filtered out, Anwir seemed to linger for a moment before seeing you were there and leaving with a huff. “Well… now that we’re alone…” he put his hand on your neck gently and rubbed up and down._

_You grabbed his hand and smiled, “you can finish telling me about that Anwir girl.” Jack sighed, defeated._

_“Alright… we went out a couple of times… until one day… she started talking to me like I was an SCP. She tried correcting herself, but everything was already said. I left right then and there. I didn’t want anything to do with her and I still don’t… I have someone that I want to do everything with now.”_

_“Jack, we’ve been dating for 8 months.”_

_“Bold of you to assume it’s you.”_

_“And you’re saying it’s not?”_

_“We-Wait-no… what? Oh come on, I didn’t get to be cheesy! Let me cheese things up!”_

_You laughed as he grabbed you into a tight hug, maybe that should’ve been your first hint that 963 didn’t work on you, “Jack! Let go! No cheese!”_

_He shook you around and shouted, “cheese!” He leaned into your ear, “but for real, Y/n… it is you… I can feel it in my soul… I lo-”_

**4 days until the Halloween Party;** You blinked away the sleep from your eyes and looked around in confusion. You weren’t in the lab anymore, you were in a bed, it wasn’t yours that's for sure. “Oh fucking thank god…” Glass stood in the doorway, “how are you feeling?”

“Confused… Where’s Dr. Bright? Where am I?” _Why did I ask about him first_?

Er-... Dr. Bright brought you to me, I don’t know why though. He came here yesterday to peak on how you were doing. But I haven’t seen him recently…”

“Oh…” You recalled the memory in your mind, a fuzzy yet stabbing pain came to your chest. “Did I faint?”

“Well, you had a really bad nose bleed, which Bright wouldn’t answer how you got it in the first place. But you were able to walk, nonetheless. Bright just helped you here. Though, when he laid you on the bed, trying to convince you to stay there, you kept grabbing 963 and muttering something incoherently. Bright seemed stained and… uncomfortable? When you grabbed it.”

“I don’t remember any of that… I was in a…” You suddenly had a feeling you shouldn’t tell him any of what you saw, “dream-like place… it was really… strange.”

“No memories?” He walked over to you slowly with a water bottle in hand. The way he said that brought a little fear into your throat, so all you could do was look at him in silence. You became hyper-aware of how the lights were in the room. The lights in the room were dim and the ones in the other room were bright, those combined made Simon’s front half shaded. It wasn’t to the point you couldn’t see him, no, in fact, you could see every bit of him… he just looked… scary? He wasn’t wearing his lab coat, you could see it hanging by the door, it felt weird seeing him without it on. Simon was wearing a white formal shirt, though the front looked grey with the lighting, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his collar was loose. It looked like he was wearing a tie but took it off recently and he unbuttoned his shirt a bit. You looked down at the bed, keeping silent.

“Are you sure the dream wasn’t a memory?” Again, Simon’s voice was eerie, sending a chill down your spine. You looked back at him, he was closer and you could hear the plastic of the bottled water crinkle as he squeezed it. You looked up into his bright blue eyes, you swore they were glowing behind his glasses… and his smile was wide but it was empty. In all honesty, you would much rather have Clef smiling at you. Simon held the water out to you, “here, you’re probably thirsty, right?”

You slightly recoil a bit and hope he didn’t notice, “oh, thank you… but, I’m ok… I don’t-”

“Take. it,” Simon shook it closer to you insistently.

You were honestly a bit worried he drugged it, but you took it from him anyway, “t-thanks…”

“Drink up! You’ve been asleep for two days!”

“Wait, what? Two days?!”

“Yes, now, drink up. You’re probably dehydrated.” You looked at the bottle and maybe stared at it a bit too long, “it’s still sealed. What? Don’t you _trust_ me?” You opened the bottle and heard the sweet sound of snapping, the seal being broken. _Why was I so worried? This is Glass… he wouldn’t do that_. You drank some water and damn was it refreshing. But you couldn’t really enjoy it because you could see Simon watching you with a smile on his face, it made your skin prickle.

You set the water down, “why are you looking at me like that?”

“What? Oh! I’m just happy you’re alright. I was really worried and angry at Bright… I thought he hurt you.”

“What?! No! He’d never do that!”

Simon hummed, “I don’t know… he’s kind of unpredictable.”

“I… I guess you’re right… what did he say to your accusation?”

“Oh not much, he just got you to finally stay laying down aaand… he just left,” Simon said with a shrug and a smile. He half sat on the nightstand next to you and crossed his arms. You never realized how strong he was until then, you could see his muscles strain against his shirt. While looking at that, you noticed some stains on his sleeves. The stains looked red/brown, like blood… _wait… like blood_? Simon noticed you saw the stains as your breath hitched, “oh those? Don’t worry about them! I haven’t gotten the chance to wash this shirt yet. I got those from helping Bright with you, you were bleeding quite a bit.” That seemed logical so you nodded in response and relaxed a little. You could still feel his eyes on you, then you felt the back of his finger touch your temple and move the hair away from your face, “it’s such a shame you didn’t remember anything new… hmmm... are you sure you’re ok? You’re starting to look pale.”

“I-I… yeah… oh! I slept for two days, right? I-I’ve missed a lot of work. I should go and check on the tests, run new ones, and see what Dr. Bright has done so far. I-I’m sure he’s probably done nothing, knowing him!”

Simon’s mood seemed to shift when you mentioned Bright and going to see him, “no, no, you should rest a bit longer. We don’t know what caused that severe bloody nose.”

“No… I should go… I need to work-!” 

You start sitting up all the way until Simon put his hand on your chest and pushed you back into the bed, keeping his hand on your chest and pushing if you try to sit up, “stay.” Simon had a look in his eyes you couldn’t figure out, you could at least tell there was a threat in them. You stopped trying to get up and sighed, defeated. Only then did Simon’s smile come back and reached up to cup your cheek, “it’ll be ok, another day's rest will be good, so don’t worry. I’ll be here.”

 **3 days before Halloween party;** It took a while, and Dr. Gears’ intervention, to get Dr. Glass to let you go. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to you. You guessed it was an anxiety thing since he used to be a field agent, at least that’s what Gears said. Gears stayed behind as you left, you waved to him and mouthed ‘thank you’ and he waved in kind but only nodded, his face not changing once. You walked down the hall and to Dr. Bright’s office, when Andrea saw you she was a little surprised, but immediately commed Bright. He flatly said to come in and not to bother him, _ah… great, it’s this mood… what a warm welcome back_.

“Hello, I-,” you started, but Bright interrupted you while waving his hand and not facing you, hiding behind his chair.

“No, yes, I know, but it’s literally been… what? Two? Three weeks? Since she rejoined? You can’t honestly expect a reason to come that fast, right? That’s just fucking stupid…. Well, those two days aren’t her fault, something happened… we’re not sure what. She just was bleeding from her nose severely.”

“Dr. Bright-”

“What!? You can’t do that!.... Well then, where are we supposed to continue our research?.... Yes, I know that there are others, but… this specific one is… special to us- I mean- me.” You sighed and sat on the couch, waiting for him to finish, “well, fuck you!... Ah-... yes, _sir_ , fine. The lab next door, fine. Goodbye.” He slightly turned his chair but stopped himself before you could even really see him. All you could really see was a tiny amount of his face and his eye, which was looking at you and as soon as you made eye contact, he turned back to block your view and swayed side to side. “.... How... are you feeling…? Bright’s voice sounded strained and breathy.

Though you knew it was futile, you leaned forward and tried to peek around the chair, “I’m fine… don’t know why you’d care… er… what about you?” The chair stopped moving, there was only silence in response, “uhm… hello?”

“I’m fine.”

“... You don’t sound fine.”

“I am.”

“You aren’t though, what’s-”  
Bright turned his chair violently to face you and slammed his hand on the desk, “and how the fuck would you know?!”

You flinched, _Dr. Bright was in a different body than the one he was in the day you got the bloody nose_ , and stayed silent for a moment until getting mad, “how would I not know? The way you treat me speaks loudly, Dr. Bright!”

“Oh come on, I’ve done so much for you!”

“Oh yeah? Like framing me for my parent’s murders!?”

“I-!”

“Like _forgetting_ about me!? And leaving me to live in the D-Class containment!?”

“Pl-!”

You stood up and clenched your fists, “I had to defend myself! I was almost killed! I was almost ra-!”

“Please-!”

“You’re so fucking lucky Clef was there! Clef, damn him to hell, helped me stay safe! He prevented me from being taken for testing until that breach happened! That was your fault too, wasn’t it!?”

“Y/n-!”

“Then they came and grabbed me to use my body as your new fucking puppet! I could have died, Jack!” Tears fell down your face freely, you didn’t even bother wiping them away.

Bright just stared at his desk, you thought you could see him crying, but it was hard to tell behind you own tears, “ _...get out…_ ”

You started having a panic attack, “what-?”

“ **GET OUT**!” Bright yelled and stood up, pointing at the door but still not looking at you. You just stood there, waiting. You just wanted him to see you, to _really_ see you. You wiped your eyes with your sleeve and sniffled, trying your best not to sob. You grabbed your bag and quickly left, slamming the door behind you and looking at Andrea for a moment before leaving to the left side of sector 2, where Glass’ temporary office is. Andrea looked from you to the door, and back to you then got up and followed you, “Dr. Bailey, are you ok?”

“I’m fi-... no, I’m not,” you couldn’t lie to her, she knows everything.

“What happened in there? What did Dr. Bright do?”

“Oh, you know, be himself. Deciding to treat me badly not expecting any backlash or confrontation.”

“Hmmm… that’s… not himself…”

“Ha! That’s funny.”

“Dear, really…”

“No, he treats you with respect because he cares. I’m ‘nothing’ to him.”

“Really, he isn’t-”

“No, I don’t want to hear anymore, Andrea. Please leave me alone,” you picked up your walking speed as Andrea stopped following. You got to Glass’ office relatively quickly and what’s better, he didn’t have anyone in session. His office had a broom closet on one side and electrical on the other, Glass told you it was so people couldn’t hear through the walls and protect the person's privacy. The door was cracked open a bit, so you walked up to it and knocked lightly. Before Glass could respond, you pushed the door open violently, “Glass.”

You could see him hiding somewhat behind his laptop, just peeking over it, “o-oh! Shit… You scared me!” He sat back up onto his chair, sighed, and looked at you with a frown, “are you ok? You look like you’ve been crying… What happened?” His voice shifted down and got a weird look in his eyes, “did Dr. Bright hurt you?”

You walked in, shut the door and locked it, threw your bag onto his ‘therapy’ chair, and walked towards him quickly, “you. Me. Right now.”

Glass turned bright red, “wait what? Like… for real?”

“Yes,” you walked around his desk and grabbed his lab coat sleeve and pulled him up. It seemed like he had no idea what was happening, you didn’t let him have time to process anything.

“Woah, woah, woah, give me a moment. Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“...Well…” Glass took his lab coat off and walked around you, stopping a good distance from the therapy chair and tossing the coat onto it. His hands reached up to his tie and started to loosen and take it off. Glass threw the tie onto the chair as well then rolled his sleeves up and turned to you, looking at you with… some kind of look… hunger? Simon started walking towards you, his hand on his cheek, “I’m happy we’re doing this with…” he hummed, “each other…” You had a feeling he was going to say something else but he stopped himself. Simon put his hand down and gave you an eerie smile, his eyes seemingly glowing like last time. He was super close to you, making you back into his desk. You looked down at the desk and saw him put his hands on either side of you, making it so the only escape was scooting backward. Simon leaned in close to you, lifted your chin to look at him, and rubbed his thumb over your lips, lust in his eyes. You felt choked with fear suddenly, like this was a bad idea, that you needed to escape. You started scooting back slightly, he grabbed your hips to pull you forward, making you lay slightly on the desk. Simon moved in closer, pushing himself against you, and out of a strange reflex, you put your hands on his shoulders and pushed a bit. He grabbed your arms roughly and pinned them down, then leaned in and kissed you. You whimpered, realizing you were trapped and Simon chuckled in response, “you did say right now...”

 **2 days until Halloween Party;** You walked into the lab, surprised to see Bright already there and working on writing down results of a test that you had left in the refrigerator. You weren’t sure what to do or say, you had a deep-rooted feeling that you cheated on him even though you and him aren’t together. Bright didn’t look up and continued to write, “are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to do something useful?” You frowned and glared at him, _I should just leave. I should just leave this room right now_. You were about to leave but saw the smallest movement of him looking at you and then sighing. You huffed and walked over to him, limping a little bit, _Glass might have gone a bit too hard, well I didn’t tell him to go easy so…_ Bright sat up and watched you, a hint of worry in his eyes, “Why are you limping?”

“Why does that matter?

“Uhhh… well… oh! Because I work with you and I’m your boss, so I have to know what’s wrong.”

“Why is that? What if it’s personal?”

“Errr… hmm… ah! Do you have a doctor’s note saying you don’t have to disclose what’s wrong?”

You felt a smile and laugh build into your throat, “what? No. What the fuck are you talking about? Is this school?”

“Well, no, but…”

“But what?” You wanted to hear him say it, you wanted him to admit it. You _needed_ him to say he’s worried.

“Nevermind, go work,” he turned back to his writing. You felt a pang of pain in your chest and nodded slowly even though he wasn’t even looking at you. You turned to walk away, but Bright grabbed your arm, “wait.”

Annoyingly, your heart fluttered, “what?” Bright grabbed the sleeve of your lab coat, in turn, you grabbed his hand, “what’re you doing?”

“Stop making this difficult,” Bright pulled up your sleeve, revealing bruises just below your wrist and some on your arm. “I fucking knew it. That son of a bitch…” You pulled your sleeve back down, really upset that he would do that but also confused by what he means, “please stop seeing Simon Glass, just go to him for therapy.”

“I don’t see how my relationships should be involved in our work. What I do on my off time is none of your business.”

“W-Ye- But he-.... Fine, whatever, have a repeat, I’m not going to tell you anything. Have fun.”

“Are you jealous?”

“What? No, I’m not. Er… he’s just… two-way glass…”

“Mhm, sure, I’m going to go do some work.”

“Wait!”

“Ugh! What!?”

“Can… you check… to see if 963 still doesn’t work on you?”

“Again? Seriously? ...I guess… it has been a couple of days. Fine, face me,” you got closer to him. Bright grabbed the amulet part and held it out for you, he looked anxious. You gently grabbed it and put in the palm of your hand, rubbing your thumb over the gem as if trying to clean it. You looked at Bright, every time you would touch it like this he would stare at you with a look of pure genuine love. You always looked away because he would smile when you started blushing, but this time you stared back. You could feel your face getting hot and see Bright slowly smile, it wasn’t like Simon’s smile, it was gentle and caring. You lost the game of chicken and looked away, gently placing the amulet back onto his chest. Dr. Bright grabbed your arm carefully as you were standing up straight, you looked at him again with surprise. The gentleness in his eyes was beyond comforting and loving and seeing that, your heart started to pound. You subconsciously looked at his lips, making him chortle quietly, you both had the same thought though; a kiss. You and B...Jack got close until someone opened the door to the lab.

You jumped away from him and looked at the door, Iceberg was standing there, “o-oh… did I interrupt something?” He was snickering a bit, “I knew it wasn’t going to ta-” Iceberg stopped himself. “Er… I mean, here are some more genetic samples from other researchers. Gears made sure they all had a name label, so don’t worry too much about keeping them organized.”

“Oh! Cool! Thank you, Iceberg,” you walked overexcited, feeling the cold chill from being close to Iceberg. “Tell him I said thank you!”

“Will do! See you at the Halloween party?”

“Hell yeah, Glass and I have a costume picked out already.

“Oh… nice! Can’t wait to see it…! Bye!” Iceberg left quickly. You grabbed some of the sample boxes, you needed to get them into a cold place as soon as possible. “Hey, could you help me,” Bright wasn’t paying attention to you. “Hello? Please?”

“Why don’t you go get Glass to help you, hm?” Bright said bitterly.

“Are you being serious? You’re being so immature!” Bright only hummed in response, frustrating you more, “fine, whatever. Goodbye. Maybe if I’m unfortunate enough, I’ll see you again.” You left the room, making him deal with the samples. You knew that if he did care about this, about you, he would put them away in the way you’d always do it; alphabetical but using the first names instead. 

**1 day until Halloween Party;** You didn’t want to see Dr. Bright today or Glass, you just wanted some time to yourself. Sort of, at least. You were just in the cafeteria watching some random guy eating, he looked really depressed and when you tried interacting with him, it was like he wasn't there or didn’t seem aware of your presence. You sat across from him, watching what he was doing and listening to what he’s saying to himself. It was actually really sad seeing him like this, even though you didn’t know him personally. 

“You watching 451?”

You were immediately ready to fight, but you just saw Officer Cook standing there, “ah oh uhh… yeah? If that’s him… yes…” a heavy silence fell between you two, it also seemed like 451 could feel it too because he looked up from his food. “O-Officer Cook… why are you here?”

“I was going to ask the same to you, Red.”

“Er… please call me Dr. Bailey,” you tapped your id, “I was taken here that day I was being ‘transferred’.”

“Right, yeah, sorry… After you were taken, a day after my dad called me for a job opportunity. Didn’t expect a place like this… and didn’t expect to see you again.”

“Same to you… So, did you train with Clef?”

“Oh my god! Yes!” She sat down next to you with a smile, “He’s such an ass and…” You both talked, catching up about what has happened over the past month. It was nice having a girl to talk to, especially about all the drama in each of your departments. It was made even better with the fact that Cook used your name and actually started to get to know _you_. You put your hand in your pocket, grabbing a small piece of paper in it, with the words “I believe you” written on it.

 **The Halloween Party** was all the talk during the day, a couple scientists you didn’t recognize were setting up in a big conference room, and there were some others that you did recognize….. You were watching them until Clef walked by with a big box with decorations and, obviously, saw you and smiled wide, his sharp teeth shining. You immediately got flustered and upset as he tipped his hat and continued bringing the decorations to the room. You sighed and crossed your arms, then an arm wraps around your shoulders, “Clef bugging you?”

You look up to see Dr. Glass, who was also watching the decor parade, “huh? Oh... His existence is bugging me.” Glass stayed quiet for a moment, like he was considering something, but shook his head and laughed lightly, “what’s so funny?”

“Huh? Oh, you are… are you ready for the party?”

“Well, I’m excited, this’ll be my first-... well… sort of my first Halloween party at The Foundation.”

“That’s true… it’ll be fun, I promise. But, if you’re not having fun, just let me know and we’ll leave.”

“That sounds good to me!” You smiled, Glass squeezed you a bit in a loving way. You could feel eyes on you, they weren’t Glass’ eye though, you knew what those felt like. You turned your head slightly to look behind you, you could see Dr. Bright leaning against the wall with a taller woman who looked tired and slightly irritated. She had long brown hair, a bit taller than Bright, for now, and a nice smile on her face. She looked really good too, attractive as hell… you felt a pang of jealousy at that thought. You and Bright made eye contact and neither of you backed down. You could feel, no _see_ the tension between you two. Your mind went back to your close kiss with him which made you blush intensely. You glared at him and he slowly smiled at you, like he played a joke on you. His smile disappeared quickly when Glass turned his head, “what’re you looking at?”

“Bright has been staring me down.”

“...oh…?” His voice was low and threatening, “Are you uncomfortable?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure… can we just go and get ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go… I’ve got our costumes in my office~,” Glass squeezed you again and started walking. You glanced back at Bright, only to be greeted with an angry stare. 

~~~

You and Glass walked into the conference room and it was crazy. They had actually turned the floor into a proper dance floor, there was a DJ, a bar… honestly, if it didn’t have Halloween decorations, it would have looked like a post-wedding or post-prom. Glass grabbed your hand and nodded towards a table with Gears, Iceberg, some other people, and… a dog? You followed him while looking around at all the people, trying to see if you recognized anyone, but no dice. You looked at Gears and Iceberg and noticed they were wearing a couple’s costume, they looked like the MIB. Now the dog being there made more sense, especially since it’s dressed up like them too. “Hey Ice, hey Gears! I like your costumes!”

Iceberg leaned over, “what?! Our costumes?!” Gears leaned over to Iceberg and said something to him that made him nod. Gears walked to the DJ stage and talked to the DJ, who promptly turned the volume down to an appropriate level. “Ahem… thanks, I’m the one who came up with dressing as the MIB and we asked K-”

“And you guys have a dog, which makes the look all the better. I love that you dressed him up too!” You reached down, petted the dog, and when you looked up you noticed everyone was holding their breath, “what? O-oh is this a service dog? I’m sorry, I didn’t ask for permission!”

“You certainly did not ask for permission,” the dog spoke.

You knew you should be surprised but you weren’t, “oh… oh! I’m sorry!”

“You are alright, you do not remember me, so I expected this to reoccur.”

“Oh, so… I did know you? Hold on…” you squinted, “Crow?”

“Indeed, wonderful that you still remember some things!”

“How could I forget you!” Crow wagged his tail in response, “it… it’s nice having so many people around… It’s been a long time since I’ve been to an actual party.”

Glass put his hand on your head and gave you a smile, “I’m glad you're happy, I like seeing it.”

You looked over to Iceberg and Gears, Iceberg was looking on with disgust but also fear, “what’s up Ice? You ok?”

“Huh? Oh, uh,” Iceberg glanced at Glass, “I wish yo-you remembered more. I just… it doesn’t fe-” Gears squeezed his arm, trying to tell him to shut up.

“Hey… why don't you go get some drinks…” Simon suggested with a smile. “Take your time choosing, some people like to spike the drinking bowl.” You looked at Iceberg and then at Simon and nodded quietly.

You worked your way through the crowd to the snack table and felt like you were being stalked like an animal. The hairs on your arm stood on end until you stumbled out of the crowd and to the table. You put your hand on the table, closed your eyes, and sighed with relief. You looked up and saw Clef leaned against the wall and table with his arms crossed, he gave you a Cheshire cat smile that made you flustered immediately. You ripped your eyes from him, grabbed a cup then one of the many ladles, and filled your cup up. “What? No ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ or ‘fuck off’?” Clef complained in a cheerful way.

You sighed, hating you were giving in to his attention-seeking, “fine… fuck off, Clef.”

Clef hummed and came around the sable, walking slowly like he was analyzing your mood and gauging if he could bother you enough to snap at him, “well thank you for at least acknowledging my existence.” You looked him up and down at his costume, all he wore that's different was a snake hat instead of his usual wide brim, “oh, and now you’re checking me out?”

“What? No! I was seeing what you were dressed as, but I guess just coming as yourself is good enough.”

“Hmmm… well now it’s my turn to judge your costume,” Clef slowly raked his eyes over you, starting from the bottom. You started to feel self-conscious the longer he looked, but he eventually stopped on your neck. “Going for a vampire theme with the psycho, huh?” Clef walked around you until he was at a position that forced you to go back against the snack table.

“Psyc- what? Glass is a good person.”

“Funny, I didn’t say who I was talking about.”

“Er… well, I assumed… with the vampire theme mentioned.”

“You know, I’ve noticed something about you…” you didn’t like his voice, “why do you get red when I smile at you? Why a vampire theme?”

“Because it's a staple of Halloween? And… I don’t like you, you make me angry and upset-”

“Hah! You and I both know the reason,” Clef took a step towards you, you took one back. He smiled again, looking right in your eyes, and you couldn’t hold the contact. He put a gloved finger and lifted and turned your chin, he looked down at the vampire bite make-up, humming and smiling seeing it. You shuddered, unsure of what to do, “I also noticed…” he snapped his eyes to yours again, but this time you felt you couldn’t look away, “you have a thing for biting, don’t you?” You turned bright red, making him laugh, “oh my, caught in the headlights huh? You know… there is a third light…” You looked at him confused until he took his hat off and you could see his third eye, “why don't you make true eye contact and tell me you don’t like ‘love bites’. Do it, I dare you.”

You strained to look, it felt impossible to look at all of them, until you could feel your eyes drift to the center of his 3 eyes. You felt your stomach drop when you heard him rumble, “got you.” He started backing you into the wall slowly, nobody in the party paying attention to what was happening. “Well, say it. Say that I’m wrong,” Clef smiles widely, staring you down. You physically couldn’t tell him he was wrong, the words were caught in your throat, choking you. “Hahaha, I knew it. Hmmm, lets truly see, shall we? Let’s make that vampire bite more… realistic.” Clef didn’t even let you process what he said before he bit into the space between neck and shoulder, immediately breaking skin. He wrapped his arms around you and held you close to him, keeping his teeth sunk in your shoulder, and getting you against the wall. He took his mouth away and whispered into your ear, “why don’t we consummate the bite, hmm?” He got even closer to your ear and hissed, “...mmiiinne…” You whimpered, your legs shook, you could feel your body pulsing with so many emotions, pains, and pleasures.

Then you suddenly realized you were looking at an arm that was blocking Clef’s face and blinked several times, confused as to what just happened. You didn’t have a bite, you were still by the punch bowl, everything was ‘normal’. You looked over to the arms owner, seeing Dr. Bright there, who was swaying quite a bit, “h-hey yo-you fuck face… fu-ck off…”

“Fuck you, Bright. We were having a _conversation_.”

“O-Oh ye-ah… suuuure, a ‘conversation’... one you thought was ne- … necessary to make a 3 eyed eye contact? WH- what were you sh-wing h-er? Wha-t were you doing?”

“Somethin’ she likes and I’m better at giving to her than _you_.”

“Ah… ahaha…” Bright suddenly smashed a bottle on his head, it shattering in small bits, “I’ll kkill y-you!” Clef rubbed his head then made fists, prepared to fight. They both lunged at each other and began fighting, though Clef was obviously winning. Bright swung hard, accidentally punching a random watcher, and started a full fight. You didn’t know what to do except watch the chaos, so you sat down in a chair and did exactly that, sipping your drink and waiting for things to calm down.

Eventually, the fighting stopped and people were holding Clef and Bright apart. The ones holding Bright were trying to convince him to go to bed, but he fought them and threw a fit. You sighed and walked over to them, “Dr. Bright, calm down.” He immediately stopped fighting.

“Y/n?” He looked over to you, a drunken haze in his eyes.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed, you must be tired.”

“Yeah… tired…”

“You’re so dumb sometimes,” you had him wrap his arm around your shoulder to help him walk. “If Glass asks about me… just tell him I’ll meet up later,” you told the other staff.

You didn’t even need a map or be told where Bright lived, you knew it by heart deep inside you. You took a deep breath and swiped your card, and to your surprise, the light turned green and buzzed. You opened the door and shuffled through the darkness to his bedroom, “it’s dark…”

“Yes, I didn’t turn the lights on. You didn’t like them being on when you would come home drunk,” you said quietly. 

Bright lifted his head a bit and patted your face, “you’re so goo...d to me… why? I’m such a mess…”

“Dr. Bright, you’re my boss, so… I’ll treat you with respect if you treat me with respect,” you put him on his bed.

He made a sad sound and flopped over to his side, “why do...n’t you c-call… me Jack any-more?” You didn’t answer him, “do you… hate me?” Again, you didn’t answer, you just took his costume off, leaving his pants on, “...y/n… I’m sorry…”

“If you really mean that, you would say it when you’re sober.”

“Yeah… yeah…”

“Get some rest, ok?” You started putting a blanket on him but he grabbed your arm quickly and pulled you down, “wh-what are you doing?” You two were nose to nose and he looked you in the eyes.

His voice was gentle, with a hint of alcohol, “I… just want to finish… what we started…” His eyes held love, there was no lust or hunger, just genuine love. He put his hand on your face and pushed himself up, your lips connecting. You closed your eyes and put your hand down on the amulet, on accident, to support yourself as you leaned into the kiss. As soon as you touched it, Bright put more effort into the kiss. You could feel the love in it, right down to your soul, and when he pulled away, you found yourself disappointed and lonely. He kept looking at you, eyes staring to haze, “I… I… really am so-sorry… And… I want you… you to kno-w… I still lo…” he fell back into the pillow and started to breath gently. You stand up and tucked him in, You watched for a moment, an urge to lay with him in your heart, but you ignore it and leave him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *exhale*  
> What did you think? I hope you liked it. I'm sorry it took so long, but I knew how I wanted to end chapter 20... just didn't expect it to take 2 weeks to write it! *sprinkles in some feels*, *pours in some fluff*, *dumps in some creeps*, *fills the rest of the bowl with hurt*  
> Anyway, please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear theories! Advice is welcomed too. If you want to do any fan art please tag "#A Bright Life" on tumblr (or @ me: vxmorpheus) OR tag #ABrightLife on twitter and/or @ me "TheDoctorMorpheus".
> 
> Update: (10/8/2020) If you're checking for chapter 21, I have posted a 'continuation' of Chapter 20... it is what happens between you and Dr. Glass 'off-screen' when you go to him after the fight with Dr. Bright - it is smut so please be mindful of that, it is also canon to the base story and it may or may not have relevance later on


	22. QnA tomorrow

Hello Everyone!

Tomorrow is my birthday so I'm posting a short chapter tomorrow along with a QnA, so if you have any questions about this fic, future works (original stories, artwork, other fanfics [3 in the works], animatics), and/or about myself... I'd love to answer them! Have a wonderful day/night/weekend/week/month!

Feel free to follow me on these platforms   
\- Twitter:::::: @ShakingArtist and/or @TheDrMorpheus  
\- Tumblr::::::: vxmorpheus  
\- DeviantArt::::::: VXMorpheus  
\- Youtube::::::::: Mr Morpheus (in process of making content though slowly)


	23. Chapter 21 & QnA

_He kissed me… Bright kissed me… he said he was sorry… does he even mean it? Was he saying he loved me? No… no none of that matters… he’s just drunk… he doesn’t know what he’s saying or doing. I doubt he’s legitimately saying sorry…_ You paused at his doorway and looked back at him sleeping peacefully, a desire to lay down with him burning inside you. You shook your head and forced yourself to leave. As you were slowly and quietly closing the door to his bedroom you heard a voice behind you, “did you get Bright to sleep?”

You yelped and turned towards the voice, seeing Miles, which surprised you, “fuck… you scared me… yes, but why are you here?”

“Well… Glass… wanted me to follow you…”

“Oh… of course, he would ask someone to follow me…”

“Yeah… I’m sorry… I didn’t want to, but Glass doesn’t really take ‘no’ for an answer when he’s in… _’Simon’_ mode… Simon’s not exactly pleasant to deal with.”

“Wait… How do you know about… _that_ side of him?” You walked over to the door where he stood.

Miles looked away, “me and Glass… used to date, so… I know all about Simon. Unfortunately.”

“Oh… did he ever…”

“Yes. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“I-...I’m sorry… We should probably head back to the party.”

“Oh! Yeah! Glass’ll be pissed if I take too long.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t get blamed,” you said, making him smiled a little at you. You and Miles left Bright’s home, walking in silence until your curiosity overtook you, “when did you and him break up?”

“Oh… uh… about 2 years before you started working here for the first time.”

“Wait, did we know each other?”

“Oh no, I avoided the wing you worked at. I think we met once but never spoke to each other. I think I remember finding out you were going out with Glass and avoided you.”

“Oh… that makes sense.”

“Now you’re going out with him again, aren’t you? Why?”

“I mean… Glass is a good person-”

“Not really. At least not completely. I know it’s not really any of my business, but,” Miles paused at the door to the party, “you really shouldn’t be with him again. I didn’t know you, but I knew what happened that broke you two up and I don’t want _that_ to happen again.”

“What… What happened?”

“He-,” the door opened, Glass was standing there looking worried but his eyes were full of anger. “O-Oh, Glass… er- here is Ms. Bailey. She was fine, she was just putting Dr. Bright to bed.”

“Uhh-huh… sure,” Glass looked at you up and down, “is he telling the truth?”

You frowned, “yeah, did you not see Bright and Clef fighting? He wouldn’t stop until I got involved and he didn’t want to leave until I told him he needed to sleep. He was way too drunk to get to his home by himself, so I took him there.”

“Just wanted to make sure… come on, let’s go enjoy ourselves more.” Glass took your hand and pulled you back into the conference room while giving Miles a look you could describe as hatred. You didn’t get the chance to see what Miles looked like in response but you could gather how he felt when he didn’t follow you and Glass inside. It looked like the party actually picked up a bit since you left, people were actually on the dance floor and mingling more… though there was one person off to the side alone. He had white hair, horns, and red eyes plus he looked incredibly tired and annoyed to be here in the first place… _I’ll have to talk to him if I get the chance, ask him what he’s dressed as_. You looked back at Glass as he was leading you through the crowd and back to the table Iceberg, Gears, and Kain were at, but it seemed there was a new person with them. The new person looked gruff and had a permanent pissed off face, he was dressed as a… well you weren’t even sure if he was dressed as anything, he just had a bunch of butterflies around him. “Oh! You’re back! Did Bright listen to you?” Iceberg waved at you and yelled, Gears put his hand on on Icebergs shoulder as if to say ‘quiet’, which was cute in all honesty. They’d be a cute couple if they weren’t together already.

“Oh, yeah, he listened to me… but he kept talking nonsense and then he kissed me,” you slap your hand over your mouth, it was probably a bad idea saying that in front of Glass. Iceberg did the same thing and glanced at Glass but mostly kept his eyes on you. You slowly look over at Glass, who had a blank expression, probably not good… There was a loud laugh that brought your attention back to the group. The person laughing was the gruff dude, “Oh my fucking god, are you serious? He _kissed_ you? Jesus, Bright can’t make his fucking mind up at all.”

“Haha… y-yeah… I guess…? Who are you, by the way?”

“Fuck, I forgot. Eh, it doesn’t really matter who I am, but call me Kondraki, or whatever, I don’t really give a fuck.”

“Kondraki… Kondraki… the butterflies… Butterfly King… no, King of the Booooterflies, yeah! I sort of remember you, not much though.”

“Of course you’d fucking remember _that_ about me.”

You laughed a little and looked around at everyone having a good time, you were a little confused as to why there was a sudden surge of ‘partying’ right after Clef and Bright got in a fight, but you could tell that Clef was not at the punch bowl anymore. “Hey, so, why was there a sudden surge of energy after Clef and Bright fought?”

“Ah, that would be Bright’s fault mostly… I had Clef watching the punch bowl to stop Bright from drinking from it anymore. Dr. Bright had spiked the punch and was binge drinking, so I had to put someone there to stop him and warn others about it. Unfortunately, Clef got bored and angry after you left with Bright, so everyone started drinking the punch, and well… you can gather the details,” Gears gestured around.

“Hm… I might hit up the punch bowl then… I’ll be right back,” you gave Glass a reassuring pat and smiled. You made your way to the punch bowl, two missions in mind… get a fucking drink and go talk to the white haired man. You quickly made your way through the now wild crowd and grabbed a drink then looked around for the white haired guy… still in the same place he was in before. You made your way over to him, noticing more about him… he was wearing gloves, a classic SCP lab coat, a dark grey dress shirt with a black or dark blue tie, and black pants. He noticed you coming over to him and immediately looked annoyed but also nervous, which was kind of cute on him.

“What do you want?” His voice was almost monotone but had hints of emotions, annoyed and tired just the way he looks.

“A little rude, but I’m just curious about who you are…” you stood at the table across from him and sipped your drink, “I don’t have many memories of this place but I can usually feel something familiar with people I used to know, but I don’t think I knew you.”

“Look lady, there’s a reason you don’t know me. I tend to avoid people if you can’t tell. I’m only here for the booze and food.”

You took a bigger drink of the punch you had, “well… I want to know you.”

“W-What? Why?”

“I don’t know, you peaked my interest. What are you dressed as?”

“Dressed as…? Oh… Lady, I’m dressed as myself. This is just how I look.”

“Wait, so you’re horns and eyes are real? No way, your lying.”

“Yes, they’re real. I don’t bother hiding them anymore.”

“Wouldn’t that stuff make the Foundation consider you a SCP?”

He looked a little miffed by your question, “yes, I’m considered a SCP by the Foundation.”

“Oh. Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you!” You took a big drink of the punch, trying to hide your embaressment in the alcohol. “U-Uhm… c-can I touch your horns? Or just one horn? Or is that, like, intimate or something? I-I’m just curious.”

“Oh my god… will it make you leave me alone?”

“Maybe, I don’t know, I might have more questions,” you shrugged, feeling a warm buzz forming in your head. The guy gave a long sigh before nodding and leaning his head towards you. The horns were on top of his head and started just before his ears and went backwards before curving slightly forwards. You reached out cautiously and touched one of his horns, which was actually surprisingly warm. They were a dark grey, contrasting his stark white hair, the horn you were feeling felt smooth with occasional bumps, and the tip of it was surprisingly sharp. You moved your hand away and looked at the man, he was blushing. _I wonder if he can feel when someone is touching them_?

“That so cool! Besides your obvious physical differences… what makes the Foundation classify you as an SCP?”

“Oh for fucks sake,” he muttered. “I have sleeping and dream abilities, you could say.”

“....”

“....”

“....”

“...um-”

“Can you elaborate?”

“Uh, I guess? So if I say a specific work or yawn I can make people fall asleep… along with touch, hence the gloves.”

“Ok, ok… dream abilities?”

“Oh… uh… well I can manipulate peoples dreams whether or not I made them asleep. I can also manipulate people through the dreams, make them sleep walk and do what I want them to. The sleepwalking manipulation is easier to do if I’m the cause of the person sleeping, otherwise I struggle a tiny bit.”

“Huh… that’s really interesting… well… you’re wearing a lab coat… what SCP objects do you work with?”

He raised an eyebrow as if that was the stupidest question he’s heard today, “I work with sleep related SCP’s obviously.”

“Ah, right, right… what’s your name?”

“SCP- …. Wait my name? Like my actual name and not my number?”

“Uhm, yeah.”

“Well… I’m in a similar boat with Ice, my real name is redacted but my nickname is Morpheus, just like Iceberg’s is, well, Iceberg.”

“Morpheus? Ha, like the dude from The Matrix?”

“No,” he looked annoyed, “Morpheus, as in the Greek God of Dreams.”

“Oh! Huh, interesting… w-”

“ _ **Hey, Ms. Bailey… what’re you doing over here? I thought you were just grabbing some punch**_?” Glass basically appeared next to you with a disturbing smile on his face, “ _ **why are you talking to Dr. Morpheus**_?”

“Oh-er… I was curious about him… I thought he was wearing a costume and I didn’t recognize him-”

“ _ **Oh, that’s swell. Come on, let’s go back to our table, or we can get a new drink for you then go to the table**_ ,” Glass grabbed your wrist roughly, making you wince.

“Er… I guess… I was enjoying the conversation…”

“ _ **That doesn’t matter, let’s go**_ ,” his hand squeezed harder on your wrist, making you make a whining sound in pain. You could tell you’d probably have bruises later… you decided just to leave to avoid anymore pain.

“O-ok… I-,” you saw a pale white hand reach over and touch Glass’ hand. As soon as it made contact, Glass let go of you and fell to ground. You gasped and followed the hand back to Dr. Morpheus, who was putting his black glove back on, “w-what did you do?”

“Oh, just put him to sleep for a while, he’ll be fine.”

“But… why?”

Dr. Morpheus looked down at Glass with distaste and anger, “he was hurting you, and I don’t care for abusive people.” He continued staring at Glass and sneered as Glass whimpered, “so let him have his nightmare.”

\------- _ **QnA**_ \-------

\----Questions from Tumblr:----

**Q:** Out of all of the SCPs from every series and tale, which one would be your favorite?

**A:** Out of all the SCPs? I would have to say that, as generic as it is to say, 049 is my favorite humanoid and sentient SCP! And my favorite object SCP is obviously 963, yes I know Dr. Bright is attached to it... but I don't consider him himself an SCP  
\----  
 **Q:** How do you find inspiration for the story?

**A:** Short answer: I liked Dr. Bright as a character and a song (Crash by Neovaii) helped me lay out a general story idea.................... Long answer: I originally listened to a whole reading of 'Things Dr. Bright isn't allowed to do' and that got me interested in his character. I looked into him and read his personal profile and scp-963, which brought me more interest in him. I ended up reading a couple of tales and then ended up reading... The Executions of Dr. Bright and _**that**_ destroyed my heart and I just wanted to hold him and give him love. I just fell in love with his character and realized he was way more than just 'haha funny man'.   
I looked to see if anyone had done a Dr. Bright x Reader fic and was very disappointed to find there were none that weren't oneshots... and they had no smut... BUT there were A LOT of Dr. Bright x [insert scientist](mostly it was Dr. Glass... which I may have got bitter about that being the only thing I could find and decided to make Bright and Glass 'rivals' for the reader). After all that, I wanted to write something but I had no idea what... that was until I listened to Crash by Neovaii... it helped me come up with the basic idea and as I listened to it more, the story became more coherent. To create this entire story took a year of thinking and fear of writing it down, the only reason this has been written was because DunmerLover's 049 fic gave me inspiration to.  
Here are some songs that help me with inspiration with this story:  
-Crash by Neovaii  
-Let you in by Marc Straight , Ellen Rose  
-I'll rust with you by Steam Powered Giraffe  
-The Wolves by JJ and The Pillars  
-Quiet by Lights  
-All This And Heaven Too by Florence + The Machine  
-Don't Forget by Cami-Cat, Nahu Pyrope  
-The Reason by Hoobastank  
-Scars by Papa Roach  
-Miss Mysterious by Set It Off  
-Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy  
-Glad You Came by The Wanted  
-Demons by Imagine Dragons  
-Round and Round by Imagine Dragons  
-It's Time by Imagine Dragons  
-The Wolf by SIAMES, Patricia Pacheco  
-Again by Aruvn  
-Six Shooter by Coyote Kisses  
-I will never (be your friend) by Irish Stew of Sindidun  
-Build a Little World with me by Laura Shigihara  
-Natural by Imagine Dragons  
-Rust to Gold by Council  
-Thus Always to Tyrants  
-Silver Platters by Les Gold  
-Animal Skin by Bryan Dunn  
-SAD (Clap Your Hands) by Young Rising Sons  
-I won't give up by Jason Mraz  
-Stipulation by Go! Child  
-Blinding Lights by The Weekend  
-Keter Qualities by Musiclide, The Stupendium, ZaBlackRose  
-Next to me by Imagine Dragons  
-Help Me by Or3o  
-Cradles by Sub Urban  
-Buttercup by Jack Stauber  
-Wonder by Shawn Mendes (I recommend watching the music video)  
Sorry that was a long 'inspiration' answer! 

\----Questions from Ao3----

**Q:** Will Fox and Scar ever come back?

**A:** Yes! They will! _Sooner than you think actually_  
\----  
 **Q:** In what country do you live?

**A:** United States, send help, everything is on fire  
\----  
 **Q:** Favorite Foundation personnel (other than Jack)?

**A:** Ooo... that's a tough one... but considering my next SCP Reader work coming after A Bright Life, I would have to say Dr. Clef! (And by next SCP Reader work, I don't mean the spin-off of A Bright Life, I mean an actual full story.)  
\----  
 **Q:** If you could own a nonsentient SCP, which one would you want?

**A:** Honestly, I'm not sure! I don't know a lot of non-sentient SCPs... does 963 count? 963 in itself is an object with no sentience... if not then uhm... I would say 348! Get me some soup  
\-----  
 **Q:** Sarkicism or Church of the Broken God?

**A:** Church of the Broken God by far!  
\----  
 **Q:** Will TJ, Sarah, or Claire appear in the story? Will Mikell appear again?

**A:** I don't know much about Sarah, but TJ will show up and Claire _might_ come in at one point... As for Mikell... I think I'll bring him back, but begrudgingly.  
\----  
 **Q:** Do you have a canon or placeholder name in mind for the protagonist while you're writing dialog where other characters refer to her by name?

**A:** The only canon/placeholder name for her is the last name, her first name is my name in my head but that's just because it's a reader x dr bright... So, no, I don't have a canon first name for the protag!   
\----  
 **Q:** Favorite flavor of ice cream?

**A:** I'm a weak bitch for Cookies n Cream (basically in any form as well)  
\----  
 **Q:** Does Simon want to be daddy or something?

**A:** Oh no, he doesn't... at least not right now? He doesn't really want to bring a child into the world he lives in. He just took the condom off for _'extra pleasure'_ , he was just caught in the moment and misinterpreted the reader's pleas as "yeah do it inside".   
(((^^^^For those who don't know, I posted a 'spin-off' of chapter 20 about what happened with you and Glass 'off-screen' after your fight with Dr. Bright. It is canon to this story and may or may not be important later on. If you're interested in reading it, it is on my works page and should be attached to A Bright Life as a 'part 2', **please read the tags as there are non-con elements** ^^^^)))

Thank you for all you're question! Time to go eat some fuckin Cookies and Cream Icecream cake and be fucking old, turned 24 today and I'm eating an ice cream cake for my birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and thank you to everyone who asked questions!  
> I hope you don't mind me squeezing in my SCP Researcher oc, I've really been wanting to put him in and I thought this would be the perfect time to given his appearance... Please let me know what you think about him and if you'd like to see again or know more about him! I'm in the process of writing his SCP entry and trying to get him 'canonized'!


	24. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's really late, I had a lot of trouble creating a certain special scene in this chapter so I kept running into writers block, but it's here now! I hope you guys enjoy it!

Everyone from Iceberg’s table came over to look at Dr. Glass, including Iceberg himself. Gears lectured Morpheus a little bit while Kondraki laughed at Glass, who was still passed out on the ground. Eventually, we got a security officer to come take Glass to his quarters, we all stayed with Morpheus though and kept talking. It was actually a fun night, Morpheus put up the front of being annoyed that we were hanging out with him, but you knew he was happy about it. Kondraki left about 10 minutes after the security guard took Glass, which you were bummed about, you wanted to get to know him a bit more, but what could you do?

For once, in quite a while, you were happy… and you felt free without Glass hovering over your shoulder. Was Miles right? Was Dr. Bright right? What caused you to leave him in the past? You really didn’t want to think about it at the moment, you were having fun. You downed your punch and got another cup, quickly downing that one as well, letting the buzz fill your head. Gears suggested, after a while, that you should probably go to bed and rest… he could probably tell something was up or he didn’t want you to get wasted like Dr. Bright did. Speaking of Dr. Bright… 

You left the party at the insistence of Dr. Gears and Morpheus offered to assist you to your sleeping area, but you assured them you were fine and you didn’t need any help despite the buzz in your head getting louder. You walked down the hall towards your sleeping quarters, trying to ignore the buzzing, you turned down the left hall and walked out onto the campus of sit-19. _Am I going the right way? I think I am… hmm… yeah, I’m pretty sure_ , you thought to yourself as you walked up to a large building. You got to the door and slid your card through, the little light turning green, confirming you were in the right place. You stumbled in, shut the door, and walked towards the sleeping area. You flipped on the lights for a split moment before flinching and turning them off, “fuck… too bright…” You unzipped your dress, took it off, walked to the dresser, and threw on a large t-shirt. You rubbed your eyes and yawned, _man… alcohol takes a lot out of me…_ Walking to the bed and rolling into it, you snuggled in and sighed with comfort. The bed was strangely comfortable and soft, maybe it was the alcohol playing with your mind? You didn’t care, all you wanted was to drift off into the dark… 

“What the fuck?!” You jolted from your sleep and looked around panicked before looking to your left and seeing Dr. Bright. Your eyes widened and a deep blush warmed your face, “what are you doing in my bed?!”

“I-I…! What? How did I…”

“Oh my god, please don’t tell me we slept together,” he walked away holding his head.

You were sort of offended for some reason, “n-no! I just… I was a little tipsy and came here, I guess?” You muttered, “though you did kiss me…”

“What?”

“What?”

He stared at you for a while before throwing his arms into the air then walked to a calendar that was on a wall. He was quiet for a moment as he changed the calendar to November. He stared at the calendar for a long time before putting his hands on the small cabinet, “leave…”

“W-What? What did I do…?”

He spoke softly, “you did nothing wrong… just… please leave…”

You got up and slowly got your dress, putting it on before leaving. You paused at the doorway and looked at the calendar, there were two days marked in red with the words ‘don’t remember, just forget’. You frowned before speaking, “I’m sorry…” then left. You heard him as you left say ‘I should be the one who’s sorry’.

~~~

Even though you and Dr. Bright work together, you two didn’t talk much over the week besides exchanging occasional words about the tests. You could tell something was bothering him… a lot, _is he still upset about the bed thing? What is going on inside his brain_? You sat at the smallest table island facing the door, paperwork scattered around on top, and looked at Dr. Bright. He was sitting near the door at a wall attached lab table doing some work with the genetic samples we had gotten from other staff. You smiled a little bit looking at the small tubs of genetic samples, all order alphabetically by first name… _so, he did do it…_

A knock on the door got your attention, you saw Dr. Iceberg standing in the doorway with a box, “hey, uhm… I got some more genetic samples from Site-17… it’s not everyone, but,” he shrugged and put the box on the wall table right next to Dr. Bright, “what can you do?” He stood there waiting for any response before blushing slightly at the heavy silence, “uh… w-well… I’ll just get going…”

“Thank you, Dr. Iceberg,” I say softly.

“It’s no problem… uh… You guys should listen to music or something if you’re not going to talk… just saying,” with that Iceberg left quickly. You had to admit, he was kind of right… the heavy silence was a bit much to handle, you guessed you just got used to it after this whole week. You knew the heaviness wasn’t you, though you did have a sick feeling in your gut, it was all coming from Dr. Bright. You wanted to know why, but you felt it better to not ask at the moment. Dr. Bright didn’t even acknowledge that Iceberg came in and left boxes until you walked up to them and opened them. “W-what? When did those get there?” He looked up from his work and at you then the boxes.

“Iceberg just dropped them off…?”

“Like… right now?”

“Yes…”

“Oh… huh… didn’t even realize,” he said flatly.

You felt worry in your chest, you tried swallowing it down but you couldn’t stop yourself, “Bright… are you ok?”

“What…? Yeah… I’m ok…”

“Bright… come on.”

“I am. I am fine, everything is fine.”

“Bright,” you look at him in his seat as he looked up at you tiredly and sighed. You immediately smelt the alcohol on his breath, “Dr. Bright, are you drunk right now?”

“What? No… well… maybe just a little… just buzzed, so I’m good.”

“No, you’re not. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No! ...No… I refuse.”

“Seriously…? How am I supposed to help you if you don’t talk to me?”

“I never asked you for help,” he snapped. He seemed to realize his tone, “no… I… I didn’t mean to snap at you…”

“Hmm… just… go and rest or something, I’ll put things away.”

“..... are you sure?..... You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“I’m nod mad, just disappointed… now go rest,” you sighed as he got up and left the room, pausing in the doorway as if to say something but just shook his head and kept walking. You cleaned up his space and put away the genetic samples into the fridge. You walked back over to push his chair in and saw a paper underneath his notebook, it looked like there were scribbles on it and writing. You took it out from the notebook and looked at it… only to see yourself. You blushed deeply and stared at the paper for so long a memory boiled to the surface of your mind

_It was one of those rare days where you **and** Jack had the day off, so naturally you spent it together. Jack took you to a spot on Site-19 where there was a big tree and a couple picnic tables around and, to be honest, it was absolutely beautiful. When Jack asked if you wanted to sit at a picnic table, you had to decline and sit against the tree in the shade. It felt so… unreal to sit beneath a tree during the nice warm day… It felt like a storybook scene. You looked up to the leaves of the tree, seeing the small sunbeams breaking through occasionally and seeing birds on the branches enjoying their day also. This is what you needed after a long week of work… this little bit of escapism. And you must have been tired because you almost immediately fell asleep, you were just so relaxed you couldn’t help it. _

_You didn’t know how long Jack let you nap but he woke you up eventually with a loving smile, “Hey, do you want to eat, (y/n)?”_

_You jerked awake, “wah? What? Huh? Eat? Y… yeah eat…” You rubbed the sleep from your eyes, “what’re… we eating?”_

_“Just some sandwiches I had Andrea bring us since we missed lunch.”_

_“Oh… why did you let me sleep past lunch?”_

_“Because you needed that nap,” he kissed your forehead before reaching his hand down to you, which you took. He pulled you up and then to the table, “I made sure she got your favorite kind too! Not that I had to tell her that, though.” You nodded quietly and looked at the picnic table, seeing a notebook opened to a drawing he must have done while you were napping. You stood up on your tippy toes while walking, trying to see what it was, “O-oh! Uh!” He grabbed the notebook and flipped it over, “d-don’t mind that! It’s j-just a doodle!”_

_“Let me seee!” You whined to him tiredly with a smile on your face._

_“N-No! I-It’s not finished! P-plus my drawing isn’t finished! And I’m not good at drawing at all! Wait… wait! I don’t like that face you’re making!” He put up his hands in front of you. You gave him a wide mischievous smile then jumped for the notebook, he tried grabbing you but missed just by a hair, “hey! Don’t look at that! Come back here!”_

_“Nope! Ha!” You ran to behind the tree and started flipping the notebook over until a hand came around and yanked it away from you. “Let me see it!” You went around the tree after Jack for a bit before he tried making a break for it and you tackled him down, laughing, “let me see!” You grabbed it and rolled off him and to your feet. You knew you should be being careful in your condition, but you wanted to see what it was he made. You jogged a little away and flipped it over, you could see a drawing of a tree and the grass around it… you were in it too, sleeping against the tree. It looked really realistic, but… He grabbed it from you quickly, blushed deeply, and huffed, “I get you a sandwich and you repay me by looking at my art?” His tone wasn’t anything bad, he was just embarrassed._

_“Jack… I had no idea you could draw like that…”_

_“Well… I… I’ve had a long time to practice…”_

_“Why did you draw me…?”_

_He walked away to the picnic table, taking the sandwiches out of a lunch box, “cheese or no cheese?”_

_“Uhm… cheese?”_

_He walked back over and handed you your sandwich with a shit-eating grin then spoke softly, “you’re my muse…”_

_You blushed deeply and smacked his arm, “that’s what you meant by cheese? Ugh! You’re such a jerk!” You smiled and hugged him before leaning in to kiss him, “Jack… you’re so stupid… I lo-”_

You shook your head then smiled at the drawing, “...muse…” You looked so tired in this drawing and he seemed to notice. On the side of the paper it had some small paragraph, ‘you need some sleep… I wish I could lay with you again, but I’m so afraid of seeing you lying in a bed… eyes closed and barely breathing… I never want to see that again…’ You looked up from the drawing and to the door with worry on your face, _what does he mean, again_? You wanted to talk to him, but you were afraid of what could happen given he was drunk. You walked out to the hallway and made your way to his office, you had a feeling he was there instead of resting in his living area, and by the look on Andrea’s face, you could tell you were right. She looked like a disgruntled and depressed parent whose teenager came home drunk, “oh good… can you go talk to him? He’s… really upset about today… but, I think that’s something he should tell you about… Just go in, he’ll just lock the door if I tell him or ask.” You just nodded and immediately went inside his office.

“Dr. Bright,” you said sternly, He was face down at his desk with a half-full bottle of… Everclear? You walked over slowly, “uh… Dr. Bright? Are you still alive?” You poked his head lightly which moved but lolled back to its original position, “uhm… hey, wake up?” There was no response, but you could see he was still breathing. You grabbed the bottle and started taking it away, but Dr. Bright grabbed your arm without even looking up.

“T-Thatht’s minne… yoou can’t t-take that…” Bright slurred out.

“Well, it appears you don’t need it anymore. You’re drunk out of your mind.”

“N-noooo! I’m _not_ done…!” He threw himself back into his chair and looked at you, his voice sounded like a child having a temper tantrum.

“A...Are you throwing a fit right now? Seriously?”

“No! I’m grown adult!”

“Yeah, sure… maybe physically, but you’re acting like a child.”

“Give me it back…!”

“Hmm… no.” You started walking over to your bag you had brought in but felt arms wrap around you, including your arms, “W-what the… what the fuck?!”

“I want… my e-everclllear backk…!” He whine-yelled into your back.

You could feel something shift in your heart, it felt… fuzzy. You started laughing and trying to get yourself out of his grip, “let go!”

“I wvant my my evbercluear…!” He still muffled into your back but his tone changed to something more playful and happy… which was nice to hear.

“No! You’ve ha-had enough!!” He picked you up and spun you around slowly, “Stop! I’m cutting you off! You don’t need anymore! Now put me down,” you were laughing and trying to get free from him.

“Everclear! Everclear! Evrlclear!”

“Jack, s-stop! Y-You’re gunna make me dizzy!” You were laughing so much at that point you had tears in your eyes, but Jack did stop and let you go immediately.

“(Y/n)... you… called me my name…”

“I-I what? No didn’t… did I…?” Dr. Bright nodded at you slowly, his face was red… from alcohol or embarrassment, you didn’t know. He opened his arms and went into a hug, but you stopped him by shoving the Everclear in between you two, “here.” Bright looked at the bottle for a second before he took it and walked to his desk. He stared at the bottle for a long time, turned his head to you, made eye contact, then he dropped the bottle into the trash bin. You two stared at each other for a long time, but you eventually broke eye contact with him because your face felt hot. His staring was so intense… you needed to change whatever subject this was about, “D-Dr. Bright… why are you drinking?”

“...oh,” There was disappointment in his eyes but they shifted into multiple emotions before he turned away from you, “I don’t want to t-talk about it…”

“You know… talking about it can help…”

“Ha! I’ve reached out before… and every time… I was let down… except for you… you always listened… maybe…”

“What?”

“F… fine… but… can you hold onto 963 while I talk about it…?”

“...Yes! I’ll do that! Just promise to spot drinking for a while.”

“Ugh… why do you get 2 things and I only get one?” He pouted in a joking way then said, “alright… I-I… oof… I agree to your terms and conditions.”

You smiled a little bit and went to the couch, “alright… come on.” He followed you over to the couch and pulled a chair up, _at least he’s respecting these boundaries, even in his drunk state_. Dr. Bright leaned forward and you grabbed 963 gently, “talk to me…”

Bright closed his eyes, he hadn’t even started talking and he was crying, “s-sssorry… hold o-on…” You wanted to reach out and comfort him, but you wanted to respect his boundaries as well… so all you did was rub your thumb gently on the gem of 963, which seemed to actually help somehow, “I-... It was last year in November… on this day… when I came back from my mission in Egypt… I got everyone but one person killed… by myself… by this damned fucking amulet!”

“Hey, hey… it’s ok… keep talking… if you can…”

“The fucking CI ratted us out to a group… told them where we were, who I was, and what the amulet did. They knew… everything… they didn’t touch the amulet unless they had gloves on. And everyone in the group… Brunwick, Sandler, Advani, Jacobs, and Lopez… God… Lopez…”

“Lopez? What happened to them?”

Bright started shaking, “she was so young… a brand new researcher… she was only 22…” He sobbed and covered his face.

“Dr. Bright?”

“They killed me… over and over again…”

“Yeah, but-”

“No! They killed me on _**their**_ bodies! All except for Jacobs…”

“J… Dr. Bright…I…” I fuzzy memory came to your mind of Jack coming back to his office in a woman’s body… and killing himself before you or Andrea could do anything, “Oh… her… that…”

“You remember seeing me… I… I couldn’t just… live like that… in her body… looking at her face with my eyes and mind. I just…” he bursted out into a full-on sob. You quickly pulled him to you, still holding 963, and rubbed his back gently.

“Hey… it’s ok… it’ll be ok… I-... I’m here, Jack… It’s ok to cry…” He pushed his face into your shoulder and cried even harder. He was letting everything out… and it seemed like… he really needed to, he’d been holding all of that in for far too long. You pushed him away slightly so you two could look at each other. You breathed in deeply and spoke nervously, “Dr. B-... Jack… it’s ok to talk about stuff like this… you can’t just keep everything locked away. It’ll destroy your mental health…”

“But…” he sniffled.

“No. No ‘but’s. Just…” You thought for a moment and then did something he didn’t expect. You brought 963 to your face and kissed it gently, “just promise you’ll talk to me, ok?” You saw him tense up before melting into a mess of crying and random mumbling you couldn’t make out. You just hugged him again and let him cry it out until he fell asleep. Andrea helped you move him onto the couch and you grabbed the blanket that was folded on the back of it. Andrea left the room as you put the blanket onto him, tucking him in in a way… You looked down at him, a flutter in your chest, and leaned down, “rest well, alright?” You spoke softly and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead and left, turning off the light as you closed the door. You heard Andrea giggle behind you, “I saw that, by the way…” 

You blushed deeply, “s-saw what? Haha…”

“You kissed his forehead!”

“S...So? I-I have to go…!” You left before she could say anything more.

~~~

Over the weekend, you spent time with Glass and only saw Dr. Bright a couple of times. On Monday when you returned to the lab, Dr. Bright was already there at the refrigerators, looking through the genetic samples. “Well… you’re here super bright and early,” you said while yawning and putting your bag down.

He didn’t turn around, he just grabbed some small tubs, “I didn’t sleep well, so I just decided to come here.”

“Oh? Nightmares?” He grunted in response, “do… you want to talk about that? Or…?”

“They’re just nightmares, I don’t need to talk about them,” he turned to you, holding three small tubs, and walked over to the wall tables. He was still being allusive with you, but at least he wasn’t drunk… You sighed and grabbed your speaker and cellphone from your backpack then set them down on the small table you sit at. You plugged in your phone to the speaker and scrolled through your playlists, trying to find one that piqued your interest. There were a lot of them, but none caught your eye until you reached the bottom and saw one with the name “Good memories”. You looked up slightly at Dr. Bright and raised your eyebrows, _maybe this’ll get him to open up or be happy_? You clicked on the playlist and started it without looking to see what songs were in it, you just wanted to see if playing music would ease the atmosphere.

You sat down and started working on some test results as he worked on… whatever he was doing. He seemed to tense up at each song that would play but eventually would relax, you hadn’t even realized that you were doing the same thing. It felt like your brain buzzed with each song that played, small fuzzy memories coming back of… well… good memories you had in the past with Dr. Bright. Remembering the smallest bits of memory made warmth rise in your chest and energy began to grow inside you. It felt like there was so much happiness inside you at that moment that you almost couldn’t hold still. That was until… _the song_ came on… the special one… The one that seemed to fill the damn in your heart.

The song started slowly with guitars playing softly, which when Dr. Bright heard it, he stood up. “I-I need to leave for a moment,” he muttered as he walked out of the room. You were a little sad, but the song started to take its toll on your restraint. Your foot began to tap to the beat of the song, it shifted in gentle humming that brought more warmth to your chest, and then… the damn broke. You couldn’t just hold still anymore, you needed to get up and move, even if you looked dumb dancing to the music in the lab. You turned the music up and threw yourself out of the chair. You had no idea what you were doing but you knew you just needed to move.

You step-jumped with the beat of the song and spun in circles, carrying yourself along the table that was to the right of the small table. You closed your eyes and let the music take control of your movements as you began remembering long days with Jack… dates… corny things he’d say… You stopped yourself and danced your way back to the small lab table. You had no idea Jack was standing at the doorway watching you with amusement, enjoyment in his eyes, and love in his heart for you growing. To him… he was falling in love with you all over again… maybe harder than before. You opened your eyes and saw him, stopped your dancing altogether, and blushed, “o-oh, how… how long have yo-you been… watching…?” Jack gave you a warm smile and shrugged, “I’m… I’m sorry… I’ll get back to-” Jack closed the door and walked up to you, grabbed your hands, and pulled you quickly over to the open area of the lab before spinning in a circle with you with the music. 

He let go of you and danced, looking stupid as ever before pointing at you. You flinched and danced shyly back then pointed at him, and he danced. You smiled, joy boiling into your heart, and joined him in his dancing before he went to grab your hands. You jumped back, laughed, and avoided his attempts at grabbing you while dancing. “You…!” He playfully growled with laughter and chased you. You ran around behind the bigger island lab table, him on the other side, and smiled, “can’t get me!”

“Oh, I will!” He ran around the table to get you, but you ran the opposite direction. And it started a cat and mouse; him faking going left to make you go right, both of you jerking left and right trying to trick each other until he jumped and slid over the table, almost knocking down expensive lab equipment. You were so surprised by his recklessness that he caught you and held you close. You blushed deeply, pushing your left hand on his chest, which he grabbed and held you like a dance partner. You were having too much fun to care at this point and started dancing with him, though both of you were clumsy and had no idea what you were doing. You could see so many memories in your head with him, it was overwhelming you with so much pure joy. That’s when the music picked up more and the dancing became more wild and fun. When the guitar picked up in strumming he spun you out and spun you in a circle, making you dizzy while you laughed, then pulled you back to him. You fell into his arms and he dipped you down as he caught you. Both of you stared into each other’s eyes and breathed heavily then both of you looked at each other’s lips. You lifted your hand up to his face and leaned up as he leaned down… and at the last big stum of the song… you and him kissed deeply. Only parting your lips to breathe and push your forehead’s together as the song gently played itself out with soft humming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hands you some past hurt/present comfort and fluff* Here... I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope the dance scene doesn't seem like a complete mess. I had a lot of trouble writing it... the song that is playing for this scene is "Thus Always To Tyrants by Oh Hellos". I'm really proud of it actually... uhm Please let me know what you think and any advice/gentle criticism is appreciated!
> 
> Also here is some art I did of clef: https://vxmorpheus.tumblr.com/post/633038556816949248/just-a-little-clef-art-w  
> or twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDrMorpheus/status/1320693493447200769?s=20


	25. Chapter 23

You and Dr. Bright stared into each other's eyes even after the song was over. It felt like you two were the only ones in the world at that moment, you could feel love swell in your chest and feel the love in Jack’s eyes. You both were quickly broken out of your trances when someone cleared their throat. Jack almost drops you out of surprise but pulls you up with him and to him, holding you in a protective manner. Your eyes snapped over to the door, scared that the person was Dr. Glass, but it was just Dr. Iceberg holding more genetic samples. You sighed in relief along with Jack, _I thought I was going to have a heart attack and a murder on my hands…_ Iceberg had a shit-eating grin, “oh… did I interrupt something?”

“W-What? N-No!” You stepped away from Dr. Bright, his hands followed you a bit as if he didn’t want to let go, “a-are those more samples from Site-17?”

“Heh, yeah, sure… totally believe that. Yes, these are the rest of them… Dr. Gears and I have to go to Site 06-3 soon, so we’ll get you samples from there… even ones from humanoid SCP’s… I mean if we’re given permission to.”

“Why are you and Gears so eager to help figure out about me resisting 963?” You gestured towards the amulet, but it looked like you were gesturing to all of Dr. Bright. You and Iceberg winced, you looked at Bright who looked shattered, “n-no no-no! I was gesturing to 963, the amulet, not you! I promise!”

He glanced at you and walked out, “you’re fine, I get it… it’s attached to me… you didn’t mean to… I’m just going to go to my office for a little while.” You smacked yourself in the face with the palm of your hand and kept it there until Iceberg spoke, “Well… there was progress… Uhm… do you want to grab lunch with Gears and I again?”

“Huuuuh… I guess… I better give him some room… I need to put away the samples first though,” you walked over to Iceberg who just gestured for you to lead him to refrigerators. Iceberg helped you put them away in the way you liked, which Iceberg called you weird for then laughed. He seemed nice enough and very chatty, you wondered if you and him were friends in the past… you had a lot of questions to ask him actually. _Maybe I can finally get some fucking answers instead of being oblivious to everything from the past…_ You stayed quiet, listening to Iceberg go on about Gears’ work, which was cute to hear him talk so highly of Gears even though the man showed no reactions of any sort. _Gotta ask if he and Gears are dating_ , you thought, adding another question to the list.

The cafeteria was relatively calm considering the food today was beef stew… but at least it was easy to find a seat. You got in line and turned to say something to Iceberg but saw him talking to Gears. More people lined up behind you and by the time Iceberg came to the line, he was a good ten people behind you. Since you finished first and didn’t want to stand and wait for Iceberg to get his food, you sat down with Gears and smiled at him, “hey Gears, good to see you. How are you?”

He took his napkin and wiped his mouth, face remaining completely neutral, “things are satisfactory at this time. Dr. Iceberg has been delivering genetic samples to you, correct?”

“Oh yeah! I wanted to thank you for helping out with the samples, it would’ve taken ages to get them myself.”

“You are probably correct in that assumption, and I’m sure Dr. Bright would have been no help.”

You blushed at his mention, “yeah, probably… he tends to… put off a lot of work, but recently he’s been actually getting to the lab early and doing a lot of work.”

“That is quite surprising… you must be motivating him as you had in the past. He was very productive during that year,” he looks at you blankly, though you were sure you could feel some sort of vibes coming off him.

“O-oh? I motivated him? Does he usually not do a lot of work?”

“Well, he would do his work, but it was at the last moment. He would also constantly sleep in and sometimes miss important meetings, but you seemed to make him want to be a better man.”

You blushed more, “I-” 

Gears continued, “It’s really a shame what happened last year, it destroyed him and he didn’t leave his office for a month and 3 weeks.”

“W...what happened?” 

It looked as if Gears was going to respond but he was interrupted, “what’d I miss?” Iceberg sat across from you and next to Gears… close to him, “ohhh are you talking about Dr. Bright?”

“Indeed we are,” Gears affirmed and looked at Iceberg, you could feel his vibes change… but you still couldn’t figure them out. “How did you know?”

“Well, Dr. Bailey is blushing… so I assumed,” he shrugged.

“Oh?” Gears looked at your face, which was actually really intimidating, “hm… why are you embarrassed?”

You stuttered, trying to answer, but Iceberg excitedly burst out, “I saw them dance and kiss each other!”

You smacked his arm, your face turning a brighter shade of red, “Iceberg! Shhh! What if…”

“Oh! Oh… right, right… I’ll be quieter, but still!”

“Was this on working hours?” Gears asked flatly.

“Oh come on, Gears-y, let them have their fun. They might get back together at this rate, so hush,” Iceberg said, whispering the last part.

“Dr. Iceberg, what have I said about calling me ‘Gears-y’ in public?” You could tell what his vibes were with this, embarrassment. Iceberg just snickered in response and ate some food with a smile and blush. You heard quiet beeping from Gears, who took out something like a phone, “ah… I will take my leave, I have a meeting to attend to. Dr. Iceberg, you are fine to stay and finish eating, I don’t believe I’ll need your assistance at this meeting.”

“Sweet… I’ll see you later then… _Gears-y_ ,” he struggled not to laugh as Dr. Gears walked away with loose fists.

You waited until Gears was out of sight before speaking, “So… What’s your relationship with Dr. Gears?” You ask bluntly, making him immediately get flustered and turn pink somehow.

“W-We just w-work together… I’m his assistant… there’s nothing to our relationship besides that…”

“Hm… you sound disappointed,” you teased.

“W-What?! N-No, I’m fine with how our relationship is right now!”

“Heh, yeah, sure… totally believe that,” you mocked his earlier comment.

“Oh shut up, you can’t mock me when I literally saw you and Dr. Bright kiss!”

You blushed and hesitantly asked, “yeah... by the way, how much did you see...?”

“I saw you two dancing together, the spin, then the kiss. It was all very… disgustingly sweet and wholesome… _but_ to be honest, I’m really happy I got to see it, though. ”

“You’re so fucking weird, oh my god.”

“Says the person who organizes names by the first name!!”

“Oh come on! It makes sense! Your first name is _your first name_! Ugh… nevermind that… I have some questions for you.”

“Oh boy, my favorite,” he said sarcastically and took a bite out of his stew.

You rolled your eyes, “humor me, please. You always seem nervous around Dr. Glass… why is that? Do you not like him?”

“Er… how can I… hmm… Dr. Glass in himself I don’t mind… He’s usually a good guy, but I’m nervous that he’ll flip into his crazy mode sometimes. That shit is terrifying, I’m sure you already know that.”

“Y...Yeah… now… do you not like him?”

“I don’t not like him, he’s ok… like I said, his crazy mode…”

“Well, how do you know about his crazy mode?”

“Ah… well… you know the security guard Miles, right? Yeah… well… they dated a while back and I didn’t know… I flirted with Miles a bit and Glass saw and almost killed me. I’m sure the only reason I’m alive is because Miles held him off,” Iceberg shuddered.

“Ah… that makes sense… Why did Dr. Glass and I break up in the past?”

“Weeew… asking that… well… I only heard rumors from other people… I think he hit you or something? Like actually hurt you… but, as I said, I only heard rumors.” That made you think for a bit before asking another question… _hurt me… he could hurt me again… he already has you idiot... well… I-I asked for it… it’s not his fault…_ “Dr. Bailey, are you ok?”

“W-What? Yeah… I’m fine…” You cleared your throat, blinking tears away before they could fall, “Uhm… What was our relationship like? I mean, what was Bright and I’s relationship like?”

“Oh… it was kind of sickening, though when it was gone… everyone kind of missed it. Bright just shut down.”

“Sickening?”

“Like, it was overly sweet and wholesome. Bright actually opened up, worked harder, made more jokes, and talked about you a lot. He changed a lot after the Egypt mission, though… that really impacted him.”

“He just told me about that recently… I can’t imagine how all of that felt… and how it still feels.”

“Neither could I… he actually avoided you for a couple of days after that. You were really sad, depressed, and confused. I don’t even think he told you about what had happened.”

“Really? He really keeps his emotions locked away… even from past me.”

“For other people, yeah he does, but for you, he was open… though he opened up to other people in May he was really excited. He mentioned you to people again.”

“May…? That’s… when I graduated… when my parents died…”

“Oooh… er… right… I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“About my parents?”

“Yeah… I didn’t know them for long but they were really nice. Your dad actually called me Ice as a nickname nickname, which was awesome.”

“What? Do other people call you Berg?”

“...Yes…”

“No fucking way! Oh my god, that’s fucking great!”

“No, it’s not! It’s stupid!”

“Yeah it is, _Berg_ ,” you tried keeping your laughter in but it came out as one big loud laugh all at once. You laughed for a little bit before calming down and asking the big questions. “What really happened to my parents? Why did Bright erase my memory? What caused everything to fall apart?”

Iceberg choked on his stew, “w-what?! U-uh…” he coughed more, then took a drink, “w-wow, would you look at the time! I-I’m sure Gears will need me soon, so I better head to his office!” He started to gather all his things.

“Hey! Answer my question!”

“Lalalalala can’t hear you,” Iceberg walked fast towards the garbage, you following him close.

“Seriously? Just answer me, please! I want to know! I’m tired of being left in the fucking dark about everything!”

“L-Look… that’s something I can’t tell you… it’s not… you deserve to get answers from Dr. Bright with those questions… I don’t have the right to tell you something so serious…”

“Don’t have the right? But, I have the right to know!”

“I-I know… b-but… I just think… Dr. Bright should be the one to tell you… he was there for both things, so he knows the 100% truth.”

“Hah! Like he’s going to tell me anything!”

“You might be right… but, it’s still better to try asking him… please…”

You sighed angrily, “fine, I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable. Thank you for answering my other questions.” You stomped away towards the stairs to go to Dr. Bright’s office, more curious about what happened and even more frustrated that you still don’t have answers. But, once you got close to his office, you felt nervousness crawl into your throat, _what… what if it’s really **really** bad? What if it fucks me up? Do I really want to know_? You kept walking and waved at Andrea as you passed by, _I want to know… but maybe I should ask Dr. Glass about it since the answers could affect my mental health_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry chapters have been late, I'm going to go on a hiatus for a while to recoup... I think writing chapter 20 took a lot out of me. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I will be eventually. I'll probably write on and off so when I come back I'll have something ready. For now, feel free to follow any of my social media:  
> Twitter: TheDrMorpheus /or/ ShakingArtist  
> Tumblr: vxmorpheus  
> DA (I don't post there much at all): VXMorpheus  
> Oh! I recently joined an awesome discord server, it's only SFW so there's no discussing ABL unless it's in PM's! Love to see you there!  
> https://discord.gg/DdU8M6wByP


	26. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have risen from the depths of burnout hell  
> .  
> .   
> well I hope so, at least.  
> I could be in burnout purgatory for all I know.

You knocked on the doorframe of Dr. Glass’ then leaned against it with your arms crossed against your chest, “hey, Glass, can we talk for a little bit?” Glass jolted from his paperwork to look at you like you surprised him then let out a long sigh of relief before setting his pen down, “talk? A-about what? Did something happen?”

“Well…” you slightly close the door, not all the way… just in case, “I wanted to talk a bit about my past.”

“Oh… past, as in-”

“My past with Bright. Specifically, why he erased my memories.”

“Oh,” he exhaled like he was relieved before clearing his throat, “well… it was pretty bad, I can tell you that.”

You huffed, “yeah. I know. I want to talk to Ja-, I mean Bright, about it, buuut… I want to know if it’s a good idea or not.”

“Oh… well… as a medical professional, and partner, I would not recommend remembering everything about what happened but rather small bits to piece together. I think if you do it that way then there’s less of a chance of re-traumatizing you.”

“Alright, that’s all I wanted to talk about actually, so…” You turned towards the door slowly, feeling awkward that you made the question sound like an entire conversation.

“W-Wait!” Dr. Glass stood up and quickly walked over to you, which made you start to panic a bit. When he got to you he gave you a hug and then kissed your forehead. He held you for a little while and put his chin against your forehead so he was looking behind you, “just… be careful… ok? Don’t push it too far… I’m sure Bright had his reasons for erasing that day. As for the whole year? I don’t know, but hold him accountable.”

You relaxed and hugged him in return, “I will… thank you, Glass…” He reluctantly let you go and watched you leave. You had to admit, you were a little scared he would grab you just before you could leave, but he let you leave peacefully as he walked back to his desk.

You made your way back to Dr. Bright’s office, nervousness still in your chest, and stopped at Andrea’s desk, “h-hey, Andrea… is Bright busy? Or…” She looked up at you and tilted her head slightly.

“No, he’s not busy… he did come here upset though. What happened?”

“That’s… that’s my fault… Iceberg came into the lab with samples and… well while we were talking, I asked him why he and Dr. Gears were so interested in finding out why 963 didn’t work on me. And, well, I gestured to 963 as I asked and it looked like I was gesturing to all of Dr. Bright. I tried explaining that but he just left… so, I wanted to say sorry.”

“Ahh, I see…” She leaned back a bit, “but, it looks like there’s something more you want to talk about with him.”

“Er… I wanted toooooo… uhhh…” You stammered, trying to think of an excuse so you didn’t have to tell her.

Andrea waved her hand, “nevermind, it’s not really my business…” She gave you a smile and winked, _oh god… she thinks…_ “go in, he doesn’t have anything scheduled today and hasn’t gotten any calls.” You nervously laughed and walked to the door, taking a deep breath to calm your nerves. You stepped in and looked at a man who was spinning in circles in his swivel chair. He was leaned back and spinning around lazily while looking at the ceiling. You covered your mouth to hide your laughter, but you were still loud enough for him to hear you. He jumped and spun his chair towards you then gave you a guilty smile, “a-ah… when… did you get here?” He rubbed the back of his head, blushing.

“I just got here, don’t worry,” you shut the door behind you and gave him a small smile. “Bright… can we talk?”

“Uh oh… I don’t like the sound of that…” he leaned forward onto his desk.

“So, first… I wanted to say sorry… for earlier. I… I really was just gesturing to the amulet!”

“Hey, hey, hey… It’s ok, I understand. I don’t know why I thought you were gesturing to me, honestly. _I’m_ sorry for overreacting,” he leaned back in his chair again and sighed.

You nervously rubbed your hands nervously, “Bright… I want to know more about the past. I want to know why…” you felt a little anger building, “I want to know why you thought it best to take my memories away from me.”

“I-I… I don’t want to tell you.”

“They were _my_ memories! What gave you the right to take them from me?!”

“A lot of things! I don’t want you to remember what happened! It was too much for you then and it’ll be too much now!”

“How do you know that?! I deserve to know what happened to me!”

“ _ **No, you don’t!**_ ” Bright stood up and yelled, making you jump. He didn’t look angry or anything, but rather… he looked panicked, like a cornered animal. You stood there in silence, staring at him as he breathed heavily.

“... I want to know, Bright. And I won’t stop bothering you until I know what happened to me.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “fine… I’ll tell you, but-”

“Really?!”

“ _Butsleep_ by the way.”

“ _My pleasure, thanks for the energy_.”

Glass was about retort but you put your hand up to both of them, “knock it off, both of you. I just want to enjoy eating and have fun, alright?” Glass looked away and sighed, nodding his head in agreement. You waved bye to Morpheus and got some food with Glass. All of it looked good, you wanted to try everything, but you couldn’t fit that much food on your plate, let alone into your stomach. 

You and Glass sat with Iceberg and Gears to eat. You noticed Gears had a slight blush to his neutral expression, which you guessed Iceberg must’ve said something. You wish the two would just date each other already, it was obvious they both like each other. You looked around the room but didn’t see any sign of Jack, “Oh, are you looking for Dr. Bright~?” Iceberg said in a teasing tone, completely ignoring the fact that Glass was here.

You blushed and looked at your food, “n-no, I’m just… uh… hey, you know… I haven’t been annoyed by Clef, nor seen him, since Halloween… where is he?”

“Changing the subject, huh? Well… I think Gears-eeeeeeeeeerrrrr… ahem, I think Dr. Gears would be able to tell you.”

You chortled quietly as Gears cleared his throat, “well, Dr. Clef is out on a mission, so to say. He was assigned to observe an interesting subject, who we believe may be an SCP.”

“Hm… why Clef and not some other field agent?”

“Ah, yes, the age-old question. Why Clef? Well, she just so happens to be a Type Green Reality Bender and Clef is… immune to such effects.”

“Type Green… what?”

“I will give you some files to read about them if you would like. There is far too much to explain and I wish to enjoy our meal.”

“Oh! Yeah, no, of course! Sorry…”

“Your apology is not needed, I understand your interest…… Dr. Bright also will not be attending the meal, he said he had better things to do.”

“Ah… well… I guess… let’s eat then…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter wasnt /great/, but it's still something. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! I may just update twice a month, for mental health sake, unless I feel I can get a chapter out because of inspiration.  
> For updates on how writing is going please follow my tumblr: vxmorpheus  
> You can also ask questions or just say something to my SCP!Researcher oc and there'll be a reply in art form! /He's/ answered one anonymous message so far, which sprinkled in some lore of his time contained.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Any advice and soft criticism is welcome!


	27. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all,  
> It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been very busy and healing from surgery, not to mention still being burnt out.  
> But I'm back now, so here's a new chapter! Sorry in advance if it seems rushed and jumpy!

After Thanksgiving came and went, all you could think about was, why did the accident happen on Thanksgiving? What were you and Dr. Bright doing that day? You had so many questions but no answers from anyone and you barely got Dr. Bright to tell you anything… _I should just appreciate the little bit I’m able to get_ , you think to yourself as you walk into the lab to start doing even _more_ testing.

You put your messenger bag onto your table and turned to talk to Bright, but he wasn’t there… it seemed he hadn’t even shown up yet. You walked around the tables to the freezers and opened them to check if Bright was stupid enough to get trapped in one, but they were both empty. You sighed and wondered if he was even going to show up today. The thought of him not showing up made you sad for some reason… though deep down you knew why it made you sad.

“Are you looking for me?” Bright says close to your ear, you could hear the smile in his voice then his laughter as you jumped and spun around.

“What the hell?! How did you sneak up on me like that!” You playfully hit his chest and pushed him.

He looked like he was trying to hide a sad smile behind a ‘genuine’ smile, “when you started walking over to the freezers I came in and followed you.”

“How though? The room is so quiet!”

“It’s easy to follow your steps. I mean… I had a lot of practice scaring you.”

“Oh? You used to scare me on the regular?”

Bright turned quickly and walked to his bag he had set down next to yours, “ah… y...yeah, it was funny… I mean, eventually, you could tell when I was near, even when I hid the amulet.”

“...Really?” You followed over slowly, leaning your body slightly to see what his emotion was on his face, but you couldn’t quite see his face.

“Y-yeah… ha ha… you… you knew me even without the amulet… no matter what body I was in… you knew it was me.” You could hear heartbreak and longing in his voice as he leaned his head back to look at the ceiling. He blinked a bunch of times and whispered to himself, “just stop. You’re fine. Stop.”

“Bright?” You hesitantly touched his shoulder with a gentle hand, “are you ok? You know… it’s ok to miss past things…” He looked at you, his eyes red as if he was crying. “I-...speaking of… what is the one tidbit of information for the week?”

“Ah… right… had hoped you would have forgotten. I guess though… a deal is a deal… You know the scars on your stomach?”

You frowned and put your hand on your stomach, _how the hell did he know I had scars on my stomach. I haven’t even thought of them or really acknowledged them in a really long time…_ When you first saw them your parents just told you that you needed emergency surgery and nothing more, “yeah… how did you-?”

“I was there when you got them… fuck… that wasn’t… but it… god damn it. That wasn’t the planned clue, but that’s what you get.”

“Uhm, I don’t think so, you give me the hint you planned for this week.”

“Hey, if I didn’t say that hint wasn’t planned, you would’ve taken it without any questions!”

He was right, but you weren’t going to let him win on this one, “just tell me the actual planned hint!”

Bright put his hands up in front of himself in an ‘I surrender’ gesture, “alright, alright, alright… I’ll tell you…” He sighed for a long, “they aren’t just a result from surgery.”

You looked down to your stomach and thought for a while, not just from surgery… I always had a suspicion about that… the scars are so messy… like a botched surgery or surgery done by ‘Edward Scissorhands’. Bright grabbed his laptop case and went over to his usual table then set himself up in silence. You wanted to talk more, but what could you even say that warranted more conversation? What could you say that wouldn’t cause an argument? You didn’t want to fight with him anymore… you were just frustrated at this point that he refuses to talk about it with you. It felt like he didn’t care about how you felt. How all of this is affecting you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

“What is it?” You looked at Bright in surprise at his voice. He was looking at you with masked concern inside a bored expression, “are you ok?”

“W-What? Yeah, yeah… I’m fine… I was just trying… to think, I guess.” You looked off to the right, avoiding eye contact with him. “Why do you ask?”

Bright stood up and walked over, grabbing your hands, “stop doing that.” You didn’t even realize you were doing anything with your hands until he held them away from each other, “what’s wrong? You only pull on your thumbnail when something's bothering you.”

“What’re you talking about? I’m fine, I’m just thinking. Plus, what’s so bad about pulling on my thumb? I’m just fidgeting.”

“Nope, no, wrong. I said, ‘thumbnail’ not ‘thumb’. It’s bad because the last time something bugged you so much you ended up breaking your thumbnail to your fingertip, so tell me what’s bugging you.”

You looked down at your hands in his, a weird flutter in your chest making you pull them away from him, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”  
His hands hovered for a moment before dropping to his sides, “...alright… I-I’m here whenever you want to talk about it…” He turned away and sat down, giving you a quick glance before looking at his computer and opening it, “.... Y/n, I made a list of D-Class to isolate and test based on their genetic similarities to yours. None are related to you, but they have similar looks, allergies, and resistances.”

Right down to business again… “O-Oh, yeah, ok… uh… when are we going to try them out? Before Christmas, I would hope.”

“Yeah, I can get some guards reserved and a testing lab as well for next week. Or are you going to be too busy?” He joked a bit.

You took a sharp inhale, “ssshhhhh…. Ya know, I think I might just be much too busy next week.”

“Oh…” is all Jack replied with, sounding genuinely sad.

“Really, Jack? You dummy, of course, I’m not going to be busy. The only reason I’ll be busy is because I’d be babysitting you,” you walked to your seat to get to work, giving Jack a quick smile as he rolled his eyes.

~~~

You and Bright met in his office to walk to the testing room together, and for him to tell you that week's hint, “it happened at your parent's house,” was all he said before walking away. 

Iceberg was standing in the lab room with you, holding a stopwatch while you took 963 off of Dr. Bright’s current body and put it on a D-Class that was strapped down. This particular D-Class was a serial killer, he aimed his attacks at children mostly but if their mother or father got in the way, he’d kill them too. You always had to know what they had done to end up here, you needed to know if they deserved to be erased… if it was someone like Scar or Fox, you just couldn’t do this to them. You’ve actually rejected a couple of potential D-Class subjects because of what they did and the reason behind it or the severity of what they did. 

You quickly stepped back and Iceberg started the timer, it took about 5 seconds until Bright came too inside the body. He sat up and put his hand on his head, “how long?”

“Approximately, 5.76 seconds,” Iceberg said while writing the number down on a clipboard. “The longest one today.”

“Damn… we got a sample of his blood and other genetic material, right?” You unstrapped Bright from the chair and Iceberg grunt in a positive manner. You looked at Dr. Bright as he stood up and rubbed his wrists, he looked disturbed or upset for some reason. _Did something happen in the 5 seconds he wasn’t aware and awake_? Iceberg paused his writing and tossed Bright his lab coat, which Bright put on ridiculously fast and began to leave. You and Iceberg looked at each other for a moment before you followed after him, “...Bright? Hey, Bright? **Bright!** ” You grabbed his shoulder, to which he responded by spinning around and ‘slapping’ your hand away. You stared at him, taken aback by his reaction, and opened your mouth to say something before he cut you off.

“Y/n, I’m sorry… that was… uncalled for. I’m just… a little freaked out right now. I-... I don’t know how to explain it,” Bright looked to the ground like a child that was about to get scolded. “But… please… let me ask you a question before you yell at me... What did you experience when _they_ put the amulet on you?” 

That was a question you weren’t expecting, “uh… It… was weird. I’m not sure how to properly describe it. My head felt really fuzzy and then I blacked out.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant… what did you _see_.”

“What did I…?” You thought back to everything that happened while you were in the amulet. The forest, the snow, him, all the people, the baby, the dog...everything came back in a rush of emotions and it was too much for you. You jumped as you felt arms wrap around and squeeze you.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m sorry.”

“W-what? No… I’m ok.” Bright pushed you slightly away while holding your shoulders and he looked into your eyes. He tsked and lifted his hand to your face, wiping a tear off your cheek.

“Then why are you crying?”

You looked away from Bright’s eyes and slowly started speaking, “I don’t know why… there was so much that I saw while I was… trapped in it? As I said, I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Well… you don’t have to describe it… just tell me a little? But, only if you’re ok with that!”

“I… ok… I saw you… I think, at least… I couldn’t really tell… the man looked different from you. Er, well, I mean… different than what you look like now. He had reddish-brown hair, tall, blue eyes… I think.” You looked at Bright, waiting for a response but he just looked incredibly pale. “Are you-?”

“A-Anything else?”

“Oh… uh… then there were a lot of people… I got away from them… then I was in a house and there was a baby crying. I went to the baby, held it, and rocked it to sleep. I couldn’t see what it looked like at all… the people showed up again but morphed into a giant dog, which looked like Dian. I ran away from the dog and when I thought I escaped, I tried looking at the baby… but the dog a-ate it…” Your voice shook a bit.

“Ah! Er… d-don’t continue, it’s ok! I-I won’t ask for more… just… try to forget about that.” Before you could ask why he sounded so nervous, he kissed your forehead and quickly left. You just stared after him, even more, confused than you were before you asked him what was bothering him.

~~~

“Ms. Bailey~~~!” Iceberg walked into the lab and smiled.

“Uh… hi, Dr. Iceberg. Is there something I can help you with?” You raised your eyebrow at him, “why are you wearing a Santa hat?”

“Oh, this? I’m doing secret Santa stuff, are you going to participate?”

“Secret Santa? Hm… That sounds kind of fun actually… yeah, I’ll-.”

“Good! Here is your person,” Iceberg pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to you. “Look at it when I leave!” He gave you a mischievous smile, “where is Dr. Bright? I need to give him his person, I thought he would have been here.”

“Oh, yeah, he went to go get some food for us.”

“Ohh, really? How sweet of him~.”

“Oh, shut up, I didn’t want to leave my research. I think I might have got something so he just offered to get food.”

Iceberg laughed a little, “alright, alright, sure… anyway, I’ll see you later, gotta hand out the Secret Santa notes to people.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled, “Alright, see you later then.” He waved and left, leaving you alone in the lab. You opened the little paper and looked at who your secret santa was then stood up and walked to the door, “seriously?! Iceberg! I swear to god!” Iceberg laughed loudly and jog-walked down the hall. You looked at the piece of paper again and sighed, “what would Jack even want for Christmas?”

~~~

Christmas came quickly and most people had the day off… well, as much as a day off in The Foundation can be. Everyone was in the huge banquet hall, which seems to be where all their holiday parties are, and it was beautifully decorated. In the middle of the room was a large Christmas tree, glittery ornaments, lacy white garland, and a beautiful glowing star adorning it. People were milling about, chatting with each other, while others were seated and relaxing. You looked around for anyone familiar and that’s when you saw him… Iceberg was standing at the tree and laughing with some people, he was dressed as fucking Santa Claus.

You walked over to him, trying not to laugh, “Iceberg, what the hell are you doing? Why… holy shit… you look ridiculous.”

“Oh come on, I don’t look that bad! Is it the fake facial hair? It’s the fake facial hair, isn’t it.”

“A bit, I don’t know why you need it.”

“I have to play the part! I can’t not wear a mustache and beard.”

“Mhm… oh! Here,” you handed him a wrapped long rectangle flat box.

“Is this Dr. Bright’s gift? And is it wrapped in-”

“Cats dressed like Santa? Yes. And yes, it’s Dr. Bright’s gift.”

“... I love this wrapping paper, holy shit. Uh… anyway, thank you! I shall put it in Santa’s gift sack for when presents are handed out!”

“Pff, Santa’s gift sack.”

“Oh shut up, go have some fun or something,” Iceberg gestured to everyone having conversations. “I’ll meet up with you and everyone else once all the presents are handed out, ok?”

You chortled and gave him a smile, “alright, alright. You won’t have the fake facial hair when you meet up with us, right?”

“Ugh, fine, I’ll take it off after gifts are handed out,” Iceberg gave an exasperated sigh with a smile.

“See you later then, Iceberg,” you walked off into the crowd and looked around for anyone familiar and saw Dr. Morpheus in the far corner of the room. You started to wave at him but a hand grabbed yours before you could get it high enough to make it noticeable. You turned around and saw Dr. Glass who was looking at Dr. Morpheus, but eventually looked at you with a smile.

“Hey, I was hoping I’d find you. Who was your secret Santa? Mine was for Crow, which, by the way, is the easiest to shop for. Like ridiculously easy.”

“Hah… yeah… I got… I got Dr. Bright. I had no idea what to get him at all, to be honest. He’s hard to shop for since he changes bodies so often.”

Glass squeezed your hand for a second, “I’d imagine so. I was hoping you would have drawn my name, but then again… there are a lot of workers participating in the Secret Santa.”

“Draw-?”

“Though, it’s a little odd that you’d pull Dr. Bright’s name specifically.”

“Uh…” You looked over at Iceberg, who was talking to some people and putting presents in the Santa bag. _I can’t tell Glass that he gave me Bright’s name_. “Yeah, it was pretty crazy. I was surprised too.”

“Mhm… do you want to get something to drink?”

“Uh… sure. Yeah, let's.” If this were an anime, you’d have a huge sweat drop on your face. You didn’t like that Glass, who is supposed to be your boyfriend, made you so afraid to tell him even the smallest detail that could set him off. You followed Glass, glanced back at Morpheus, and sighed. 

You and Glass found Gears and Crow chatting away about a machine Crow was working on. You weren’t really mechanically inclined, so you didn’t understand what he was saying, but you still listened nonetheless. After chatting and playing some cards for an hour, Iceberg called everyone over. The first person that was there was picked for their present and whoever it was from was the next person to get their gift. Though, occasionally it would loop around so Iceberg would have to call someone new. Glass got a gift from Kondraki, Glass gave Crow his present, Crow gave Kondraki his gift, then Iceberg called on Gears. Gears exchanged gifts with Iceberg because they had each other's name, _hm, I wonder who’s doing that was_?

You were called up next, Iceberg held out a box to you with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. You took it skeptically and looked at who it was from, _Jack Bright, of course it would be_. You looked around and saw Jack standing in front of the crowd with a small smile. You raised an eyebrow and opened the gift, inside the box was a beautiful scarf with the designs of the moon and stars. When you took it out, you couldn’t believe how soft it was, how light it was… it was like he knew what things you love. _Of course he’d know, we dated in the past_. Jack began walking over to get his present as you were putting on the scarf, “thank you so much for this, I love it.”

“I knew you would, Y/n,” Jack smiled and winked at you.

You blushed, slight fluttering in your chest, “I… er… I don’t think mine will be great compared to this… but I hope you like it anyway…” Iceberg handed Jack the gift you picked out for him. Jack then handed you his drink, which was alcoholic eggnog of course, explaining his boldness. He looked at the wrapping paper and then to you, “I love the wrapping paper, I might not even open it.”

“What? No! Open it!”

“I thought you said you didn’t think it was great,” Jack teased. “Anything from you is great… don’t doubt yourself.” You weren’t sure how to respond to that, so you just stood there while he carefully opened your gift. You watched him, though it was more like you were _checking him out_. He was actually nicely dressed in a red button-up shirt with a black tie, black coat, and black pants, and he looked upsettingly handsome. He finally got to the box and opened it, which he didn’t react to for a bit but eventually started laughing, “I love this, this-this I’m just…” He handed the open box to Iceberg, who laughed, and started taking his tie off while looking at you with love in his eyes. You just stood there, unsure of how to react or respond to what was happening. When Jack got his tie off, he grabbed the tie you got him out of the box. It was a black-tie with a human figure falling and the text; “It’s not the Vf=Vi+at that kills you, it’s the F=m(deltaV/deltaT)”. He put it on and gave you another smile, “now we’re both wearing each other's gift.”

“Pff… why did you make that sound so corny?”

“I have a gift of corniness!”

“Just get back together already, jeez,” Iceberg muttered.

“Iceberg-.”

“Next person!” Iceberg yelled. You shot him a playful glare and he returned a mischievous smile. Later on, Iceberg came over to the table you, Gears, Crow, and Glass were sitting at and like he promised, he wasn’t wearing the fake facial hair anymore. Of course, Iceberg sat next to Gears as close as possible to where it didn’t make Gears uncomfortable. “That scarf is really nice, Ms. Bailey. It looks really good on you!” Iceberg said cheerfully, earning a blank side-eye from Gears, “Dr. Bright really knows-”

“Ahem… I also have a gift for Dr. Bailey but I forgot it in my office,” Glass spoke slowly and took a sip of the alcoholic eggnog. He was staring at Iceberg, as if challenging him to say something, but that didn’t dissuade him this time.

“Yes, well, that’s in your office and not here right now. Am I not allowed to compliment Ms. Bailey? Or compliment Dr. Bright’s shopping skill?” Iceberg shot back at Glass. They began arguing slightly, but you started to zone out their conversation when you saw Jack interacting with _that_ woman, Alisa Anwir. She was really close to him and talking up a storm, while he was just nodding or shaking his head in response. You watched intensely as she got closer to him and put her pointer finger on his chest and started finger-walking up towards his voice. Jack sighed heavily and backhand swiped her hand away from him then said something that made her upset and walked away. He sighed again, dusting off the tie you gave him as if Alisa left filth on it, then he downed the rest of his drink and left.

You jumped slightly as you felt Iceberg give you a gentle kick, trying to get you to look at him. Iceberg glanced at Glass then gave you a questioning look that said, _“you good?”_

You returned a look, trying to convey something along the lines of, “ _I want to leave, but Glass would follow me…_ ” You looked past Iceberg to the door.

Glass looked behind himself, barely catching sight of Jack leaving. He nodded and looked at Glass, steeling himself, “well, Glass, Jack left the party, why don’t you go get Ms. Bailey’s gift? Or were you lying about it?”

“I-... What! No! I wasn’t lying about my gift, but I want to give it to her in private. It’s personal.”

“Pff, you don’t have a gift for her, do you?”

“Ice, why do you insist on arguing with Dr. Glass? Please tell me you did not partake in the… _eggnog_ , we have a lot to do tomorrow,” Gears said. You didn’t expect to hear Gears call Iceberg ‘Ice’ and you guessed neither did Iceberg because he turned bright red.

“I-I didn’t drink any eggnog! And-”

“Are you blushing right now?” Glass snorted a bit.

“N-No! I’m not! I’m- I’m just warm is all.”

“Dr. Iceberg, if you are indeed warm, then we must get you to the specialized freezer near our office,” Gears plainly said. You could read the vibes of worry but he physically showed nothing.

“Gears-!”

“You have a special freezer? Hah!” Simon laughed.

“It’s- It’s not for me! It’s for… for… Gears!” Iceberg looked at Gears for help while Simon kept laughing, which was a perfect distraction. You slowly got up, Gears almost asked where you were going but Iceberg squeezed his arm. You quickly blended into the crowd and made your way to the door. _Why am I doing this? Why am I going to check on him? Why should I care?_ You shook your head but your body kept taking you forward, _he looked upset… I could do the least thing possible and just make sure he’s ok._

You stepped into the hallway and looked in both directions, getting jumpscared by Jack leaning against the wall, “oh fuck! Oh, uh… hey, Uhm, what’s up?”

“What’s up?”

“Yeah. What’s up.”

Jack smiled slyly, “I should be asking you that, Y/n. Did you come out here to check on me?”

“M-Maybe… whatever! Yeah, ok, I’m checking on you. There, happy now?”

“Woah, woah there, I’m just teasing you.” He held his hands up in surrender and had a smile on his face, “I’m fine, just annoyed at someone in the party and needed to take a breather.”

“You mean Alisa?”

“Oooo… Sshhhh… You saw that?”

“Yeah, I did. What was she doing?”

“Just the usual shit; flirting, seduction, manipulation…”

“Oh… well… what did you say to her?”

“I just told her to fuck off.”

You crossed your arms, “you said more than that.”

“I also may have told her that her dress looked hideous and that she had food on her face…” Jack stopped leaning on the wall and smiled when you laughed. “Hell yeah, I’m a comedic genius. I have successfully made you laugh at something.”

“Oh come on, you’ve made me laugh plenty of times!”

“That’s exactly why I’m a comedic genius,” Jack winked at you.

You blushed, you almost had forgotten he was drunk, “oh, will you give me this week’s hint?.”

Jack sighed, “inevitable… very well. Your dog did what it was made for.”

“... I guess, whatever…” You stopped expecting detailed hints at this point, “let’s go back to the party, Jack.”

“Hm… I suppose I will… for you.” He followed behind you back to the party with his hands in his pockets. He quickly then walked next to you and leaned over, “so, do you really like that scarf?”

“Yes, I do, why do you ask?”

“Ah, in November, before the… Ahem… we were shopping for-....” Jack looked away from you, “you saw that scarf in the store and it was the last one in stock, we agreed if we had extra money we’d get it, and we did. But when we went to grab it, it was gone. Someone had beat us to it… when we went to the service counter and asked about when it would be restocked, we were told that that design was discontinued and it wouldn’t be in stock anymore. You were really sad… I made it my mission to find one for you before Christmas. It was going to be my gift for you.” He looked back to you with a half-smile, something stronger than sadness in his eyes, “but… I never got the chance to.”

You could feel like something was pulling at your heart, you didn’t like the look he gave you. And you wanted to change it to something better, “well… there is no ‘was’ anymore… you gave it to me in the end, even if I don’t remember a lot of the past, I can still feel the appreciation and happiness.”

“This is why I fell for you… I guess you’re right, you usually are in the end,” he turned to you, a smile and a warmer look in his eyes.

You immediately felt flustered and had an overwhelming urge to hug him and kiss him, “I-er-Uhm… y-you know, you… you look really nice today.” You internally facepalmed yourself.

Jack laughed gently, “I feel as if this should have been our first conversation. Nonetheless, you look as stunning as ever.” You had no idea what to do or say at that moment, so you just looked at the crowd, just now noticing that people were dancing together, “hmm… seems as if the dance started… would you-” Jack started.

“Dr. Bailey! I’m glad I found you,” Glass smiled warmly, paying Jack no attention. “Do you want to dance?” He held his hand out.

“Oh uh…” you looked at Bright and then to Glass, “Uhm… sss-sure.” You took his hand and looked for Bright’s reaction.

“Mhm, have fun with the abusive guy you left in the past,” Dr. Bright said bitterly. You were expecting him to be upset and say something but you didn’t expect _that_.

You pulled your hand away from Glass and got close Dr. Bright, “if you don’t like me being with Glass then tell me what happened that caused us to separate! If your worry is genuine, then tell me! I’m right, fucking, here.”

“Dr. Bailey… please, let’s go… just leave him, he’s drunk,” Glass pulled at your hand gently.

You huffed and glared at Dr. Bright, “yeah, alright. Let’s have our dance.” You turned back to Glass and began following him, holding hands, but there was one more thing you wanted to do to spite that man. You stopped, “hey, Glass?”

“Yes?” Glass turned to you. You glanced quickly to see if Dr. Bright was there and watching, and he was. Once you confirmed that, you leaned in and kissed Dr. Glass, an empty kiss with no emotion, but it did get a reaction from Dr. Bright. Bright looked hurt but angry, then he huffed and left the party.

The rest of the night was uneventful. You and Iceberg tried to do some shots with eggnog, but you both almost threw up. Glass left early because he had a flight to catch in the morning, he was going to another site for psych evals on new recruits and would be gone until the 2nd of January. Gears eventually dragged Iceberg out of the party because they had work to do in the morning, and Iceberg was asking you if you wanted to do vodka shots since it was sitting out. You left soon after since you couldn’t find Dr. Morpheus to ask him how his night was and how he was. _I’ll see him on New Years, I’m sure… I hope… he seems like a lonely guy._ You walked down the hall, the lack of people giving the halls a scarier feeling… and giving you the feeling of being followed? You turned around quickly and looked around, but no was there. At least no one you could see, _they’re_ good at making sure no one sees them.

~~~

You and Dr. Bright did the minimum amount of interacting with each other until the day before New Year's Eve, then it was time for the next hint, “Dr. Bright, the hint please.”

He looked up at you and sighed, “can’t we… alright fine… it was very… bloody… very graphic.” As soon as he finished his sentence, a cold shiver went through your spine, “oh! Oh no! Please… are you ok?” Bright stood quickly and held you by your shoulders.

“I’m fine, Bright. It was just a weird shiver, it’s nothing,” you waved it off. He nodded slightly and let you go, “are you going to the New Year's Eve party tomorrow?”

“Wasn’t really planning on it, but I am because of a promise I made.”

You looked at him, confused as hell, but you decided just not to ask, you had a feeling he wouldn’t tell you anything anyway, “Uhm, ok, good…” _Good? Why? Why would you ever want him there with you? Maybe I just miss Glass…. Yeah, that sounds right… sure._ You left before he responded, you had made a promise to Iceberg that you would help him and Gears set up the NYE party.

You walked into the huge banquet hall and saw a lot of people working already but you couldn’t find Iceberg. You walked into the room and looked around then you could hear, “Ms. Bailey! Over here!” You looked to your right and saw Iceberg waving at you. You walked over quickly and sat at the table they were at, “ok, so, we’re making curly ribbons! So grab those scissors and start curling!”

“Pff, alright I guess, so quick to the task at hand.”

“That is because I promised him a dessert he rarely is able to get.”

“Ah, that explains that. Let’s get to work then,” you grabbed the scissors. You and Iceberg chatted the whole time while working, Gears popping into the conversation every once and a while to give his thoughts. Eventually, you guys finished and helped other people, but you kept chatting with Iceberg. He was an interesting person, given his temperature anomaly, but there was so much more to him than that. He actually did ice sculpting when he had free time, which was rarely but still, and he also could make a mean molotov cocktail, he just had a particular nack with explosives. Over the couple hours you spent with him, you’d say you and him became friends, hopefully, good friends, he seemed like a person you want on your side when push comes to shove.

Later that night you showed up to the party, quite late actually, in a nice dress, and the scarf of course, along with a bracelet you had gotten from Glass as a gift. You walked through the crowd to the drinking bowl and found Morpheus putting a small bit of punch into his cup then opening his jacket up and taking out some vodka and filling the rest of the cup, “enjoying the punch?”

“Eghf! What?! Oh fuck… Jesus fucking christ, you scared me.”

“Why did I scare you? You weren’t doing anything you weren’t supposed to be doing, right?”

“Uh… no, all good here. Just… uh… drinking some delicious punch with no additive at all.”

“Mhm, you seem like you had a couple before coming to the party.”

“I may have… for social reasons…. Which is a totally valid reason.”

“Hopefully not forever, right? Don’t want you getting alcohol poisoning.”

“Y-Yeah, hopefully not forever… u-Uhm, I need to leave and uh… go to that table in the corner… see you later! Or not, I don’t know! Er- I mean I don’t care!” You watched him leave quickly. You got your own drink, seeing that one of the bowls already had alcohol in it, _weird…_ You then made your way around the party until you could find Iceberg and Gears. Iceberg was leaning on Gears and was already pink in the cheeks, “Hey Iceberg looks like you’ve had a little bit of the punch.”

“T-That's what I keep telling Gearsy, b-but he won’t listen.”

“That’s because you are highly intoxicated. You’ve had much more than a ‘little bit’,” Gears quickly said.

“Have…. Gi-Give me onne moment. Msss. Bailey, I would like to t-talk to you abouut something,” Iceberg stood up, wobbling slightly, Gears helping him not fall flat on his face. Iceberg then took you to where you and him were out of Gears’ sight, “Alright… listen. I need help, I-I want to kiss Gears. I wouldn’t normally d-drink, but, as they say, ‘liquid courage’. How would I even go about that? You know like… a New Year kiss.”

“Fucking finally… Ice, you just kiss him… cheek, lips, whatever, just do it. Don’t think about it, feel it.”

Iceberg looked down in thought, then looked back up, “alright, I-I’ll try that. L-let's go back to the table.”

“Alright…” you rubbed your eyes tiredly, looked around at the people having fun… you felt a sort of nostalgia at the sight of them and the decorations… Your dad would throw NYE parties just like this. You felt the pain as soon as you thought of your dad, the pain of a memory, the memory of holding his decapitated head. You teared up and held your head, trying to make the pain go away by squeezing your face. You felt a very cold hand touch your exposed back, a welcomed shock, “M-Ms. Bailey? Are you ok?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah, I’ll be fine… just… just remembered something is all.” You walked ahead of Iceberg, “come on, let’s get your gears turning.”

“...That wa-was the worst pun I’ve ever heard,” he chortled, following behind you. He took his place next to Gears immediately and leaned on him. Iceberg drifted off into a light sleep and Gears just accepted his fate as a cushion. You smile sadly at him and Iceberg, “I’m going to step outside for some air…” Gears nodded in response as if he didn’t want to speak and wake up Iceberg.

You walked to the end of the banquet hall and slid open a door that led to a simple place where a couple of people could hang out, but no one was outside. You looked back through the glass door and watched as Gears gently moved some hair out of Iceberg’s face. “Hell yeah dude, _hell yeah_!” 

“What are you hell yeah-ing?” You yelped and turned around, actually squaring up to fight in response. “Woah, woah there. It’s just me! No need to start throwing punches.”

“Dr. Bright, must you insist on scaring me?” You slowly relaxed your muscles and sighed in annoyance, “nevermind don’t answer that, I already know the answer. How are you out here? When I came outside there was no one out here.”

Dr. Bright pointed behind himself, “I was around the corner trying to avoid anyone else that came out here, but when I heard you say ‘hell yeah’, I had to come over and find out what was going on.”

“Ah… well, it doesn’t really matter anymore, also it’s none of your business.” You crossed your arms for a moment but then let your arms fall to your side with a sigh, “can you leave me alone? Like, go into the party and leave me be for a while. I want to be alone.” Bright smiled for a moment but saw you were actually being serious and nodded in response before going back into the party. You didn’t expect him to actually listen to you, but you appreciated that he did at least this one time. 

You walked over a bit and leaned on some railing that was behind two patio chairs. The sky was clear and beautiful, everything was peaceful with just the hum of music barely blocked by the door, the rustle of leaves from the large tree in the middle of the courtyard… all of this started building a warm but sad feeling in your chest, which unfortunately built up into your mind and invaded your eyes. Tears filled your eyes and began running down your face on their own accord. You put our elbows onto the railing and bent forward to grab your head while you sobbed to yourself. 

You stayed like that for a good 5 minutes, crying to yourself all the while. You were trying to take slow breaths to calm yourself down, but it was hard due to paradoxical breathing. A hand gently touched your back, “hey… hey, are you ok? What happened?”

You sniffled and stood straight, sniffling, “I-I’m f-fi-n-ne… I-I ju-st n-needed a g-good c-cry, you k-know?”

“No, no, I know something is bothering you. Look at me,” Bright put his hand on your shoulder, but didn’t forcibly turn you around. Rather, he was letting you decide if you wanted to turn.

“N-No, I-I lo-ok terrible,” you sniffled loudly and tried as hard as possible not to wipe your nose with the back of your hand. Jack’s hand retreated for a moment, returning by tapping your shoulder and moving into sight. He was holding out a couple tissues for you, “...t-thank you…” You took them and blew your nose then cleaned up your make-up with the extras before turning to him. You weren’t expecting to see a worried look that seemed more than just worried, his eyes said it all. _He still cares… even if he tries to deny it and he still wants you to be happy no matter what._

“You don’t look terrible, Y/n, you never do. What’s wrong? Please tell me.”

“I…” You looked behind him at the party, tears threatening to come up again, “it’s just the party… everything that’s happened…” You turned away from him and put your hands on the railing, then looked up at the stars, unsure of how to finish your sentence.

Jack stepped next to you and joined you looking at the stars, “it’s been a lot, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah… I guess… I really never expected something like this to happen.”

“I wouldn’t think anyone would. They got a crazy imagination if they did expect something like this.”

“Hah… yeah…” You and him stood together in silence for a while, until you broke the silence with a shaky voice, “it’s my first year without them.” Jack looked at you, “I just… they’re gone… I can’t celebrate the New Year with them… and I feel so alone. Even at this party… I feel so alone… I’m just… I’m just alone now. I have no family…”

Iceberg stuck his head outside, “h-hey, you t-two lllovve biirrddss. The ballll, is dropping i-in like… fi-... five minutes, come back i-insi-”

“Iceberg, I take my eyes off you for a single moment and you wander off. Do not stick your head out, it may be winter, but it is much too warm for you, especially when you are inebriated,” Gears came over and nudged Iceberg slowly out of the door, “I apologize, Dr. Bailey, Dr. Bright, for the interruption. Please continue whatever it was you were doing… unless it violates Foundation code and rules, that is.” Gear slid the door shut and walked to the crowd watching the tv. They stayed at the very back, which meant you could see Iceberg finally kiss Gears.

“Y/n” Jack looked down at you, grabbed your left hand, and gently made you look back at him, “they may be gone… and you can’t celebrate with them, but you can still celebrate it _for_ them. And you’re not alone in this, you do have a family. Family can be so much more than blood relations, I should know, my genetic family is a nightmare.” You chortled quietly, “look at me, look at Iceberg and Gears, and Andrea… we’re all your family. We’ll be your family, you won’t be alone. We’ll be here for you, especially me… I’ll _always_ be by your side.”

“Are you drunk, Jack?” You stared at him, your face was bright red, everything he was saying… it felt…

“No, I’m not. I made a promise not to get drunk tonight.”

“Who’s making you do these weird promises?”

Jack smiled a bit, “you are.”

“O-Oh…” You blushed even more and looked away to look inside the building. Everyone was counting down from 10. _Finally!_ You watched Iceberg through the glass, waiting for him to kiss Gears.

“I also made another promise… which’ll happen… 6, 5, 4…” Jack counted down with the group quietly. When the ball dropped, Iceberg leaned over and gave a drunken kiss to Gears’ cheek before leaning into him more, “now.” Loud explosions and multicolored lights filled the darkness, fireworks. He set up… fireworks… for you?

“Jack… I… it’s beautiful… thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it… it took a bit to set everything up correctly, haha. The last firework is the best though.” You and him watched the fireworks together and you slowly put your hand in his, which he immediately took. “Here’s the last one,” he said and nodded to the center courtyard. A loud ‘foop’ sound was heard, then… boom! Red lit up the sky, it was a heart-shaped firework.

“Jack… you’re such a… cheesy man,” your voice shook a little, but only because of nerves and the overwhelming feeling in your chest.

“Inde-” Jack started to say, but you didn’t let him finish. You grabbed his tie and pulled him down to your eye level, staring into his eyes. You both knew it was coming then and there. The New Years' kiss, another promise Jack could tick off on his list. You both leaned in and closed your eyes, lips meeting each other like two lovers who haven’t seen each other in ages. You put your hands on Jack’s face as he wrapped his arms around you, holding you close, but gently all the same. 

It’s a New Year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the ending, I really wanted to get this chapter out before New Years, but I got surgery. I'm just happy I got this one out.  
> I'm going to go pass out, some of the middle part is a little wacky cuz I hadn't slept in 24 hours.   
> Love to hear from you guys, I hope you're having a good 2021 so far  
> advice, soft criticisms, and theories are encouraged  
> if you draw some fan art, please let me know! Tag "A Bright Life" and at me vxmorpheus in tumblr and at me on twitter with either ShakingArtist or TheDrMorpheus!   
> Have a wonderful day/night!


	28. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I've been working on this chapter for a while. I had a couple of bouts of depression and no motivation to the point where I couldn't even bother picking up my computer. But, I'm feeling a bit better now! Oh, and also, I got distracted writing Dr. Morpheus' SCP file when I would get on my computer. But, anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

You and Jack walked around the courtyard, actually talking about each other for once, “don’t you want to sit down? You look tired,” Jack said as he looked over at you and raised an eyebrow.

“No, I need to do some sort of exercise. I’ve been gaining weight and I have no idea why, I even have been eating healthy.”

“Oh? Maybe you’re just getting old so your metabolism is slowing down.”

“Jack! Don’t call me old! You’re supposed to tell me something reassuring!”

Jack laughed a bit, “something reassuring.”

You smacked his arm, “ass.” 

You and he walked in comfortable silence for a while, Jack being the first to break it, “I was wondering… er well… First, I want to apologize deeply about… forgetting about your arrival. I never meant that to happen.”

“... I… I forgive you… a little bit. I’m still upset, but I don’t hate you.”

He exhaled with relief, “thank you… I hardly deserve your forgiveness at all. What… What was D-Class life like? I mean, I know what it’s like through the bodies I possess, but I’m not attached to them.”

“Well… I was almost killed by a guy, Scar, because of what my father did to him… then I was saved by another guy, Fox, who got the shit beat out of him for letting me get away from him. But, the angry guy soon became… a friend… and so did the other guy. They didn’t like each other, in fact, there was a night where Scar attacked Fox and Fox stabbed Scar with scissors,” you recounted fondly as if it were a high school memory.

“Damn, do you know why… er… _Scar_ attacked _Fox_?

“No, I have no idea… but after he was all better he came in and saved me from another d-class. He kind of became… a bit of a father figure. He even said I reminded him of her. He told me how he ended up at The Foundation, all I can say is wow.”

“Was it that bad?”

“No, I mean, it’s not good but… I don’t know… I feel like his actions are understandable. Wouldn’t you kill someone who hurt and killed your daughter in the worst way possible? Especially when the killer is right there staring down at her?”

Jack looked like he was recalling something he didn’t want to for a moment but shook his head to get rid of the thought, “yes, if I knew the law was going to do nothing, I would do something.”

“But, he did do way more than kill his daughter’s killer…” You tilted your head and looked off to the side, waiting to see if he asked.

“I’d imagine so to whined up in The Foundation.” He was silent for a while before speaking again, “this D-Class, ‘Scar’, right? How do you feel he is in reformability? What exactly did he do?”

“Oh… uh… To be honest, even though we shared a short time together… he felt like a father figure to me. He even said that I reminded him of his daughter… I think deep down he’s a good guy, who wants to do good but life just hasn’t given him a chance. I think he has reformability within him. As for what he did… he went down a list of pedophiles and killed them.”

“Damn…” Jack let the silence speak for itself. When you and he stopped underneath the central tree, he continued, “why not try getting him into the Rehabilitation program?”

“Rehabilitation program?”

“Yeah, sometimes D-Class’ are, in a sense, rehabilitated. They usually end up being janitors, sometimes security or MTF members, and even, depending on crime and reformability, assistants. Andrea was a D-Class.”

“Andrea was a D-Class?!”

“Yeah, you didn’t know that?”

“No, I had no idea… where is her tattoo?”

“She never wears anything that shows it, she doesn’t like the looks she gets from people when they see it or find out her past.”

“That’s… understandable…” you idly scratched at your arm where your own tattoo was. Jack grabbed your hand gently and pulled it away from your arm, keeping hold of you.

“I’m sorry… for… all the D-Class shit you had to go through… everything… I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you,” Jack spoke softly, not meeting your eyes as you looked up at him. You could see he had tears in his eyes, “I’m an awful person… I just… I can’t believe I f-”

“Jack,” you put your free hand on his chest, on top of 963, making him gasp. “Thank you for apologizing… I really appreciate it… I kind of understand now, as to why you forgot… switching bodies affects how your memories are, right?” He only nodded, holding his breath as you idly rubbed your thumb gently over the blood-red gem in the amulet. “I thought so… it’s-” Jack suddenly grabbed you and pulled you into a big hug, holding you tightly as if he were afraid you’d disappear. You were surprised at first but slowly returned the hug. You buried your face into his shoulder, breathing in his scent, feeling comfortable for the first time in a long time. As Jack kissed the top of your head gently, a late firework went off, scaring both of you. He held you tighter before laughing with you following his laughter, “well that was something…” You looked up, both of you still holding onto each other, “it’s a really beautiful night…”

“Yeah… but not as beautiful as you,” he said softly, looking down at you.

You let go of him and slapped his arm, “stop being so cheesy!” You laughed, but it was taken away as soon as he kissed you. You knew you should pull away, that this wasn’t a good idea, but you couldn’t bring yourself to… all you could do was lean into it and join in… wishing deep inside that this would last forever.

~~~

 _Idiot, idiot, idiot! God what was I thinking? Why did I do that? God dammit… what if I messed everything up again? We haven’t talked at all over the weekend… I’ve seen you in the halls and at lunch with Glass… but you never gave me so much as a glance in my direction_ , Bright ranted to himself in his head while pacing in his office. He knew he was probably overthinking things, but… he was scared. He was scared to lose you again… he wouldn’t admit that outloud to you or himself, though. He just kept telling himself, “I don’t want to ruin our work relationship that’s all” and “it’s Glass’ fault, that’s why you didn’t interact with me”. 

Andrea walked into Bright’s office and sighed, “you’re still pacing around? It’s been three hours, Jack.”

“T-Three hours?!” He stopped in his tracks and looked at her with surprise.

“Three hours.”

“Wait… if it’s been three hours… where’s Y/n?! Fuck!” He started pacing again but with more franticness in his walk.

“Jack, it’s only 10 a.m., you know she goes to breakfast.”

He stopped walking and stared at the wall, “right… right… breakfast…” Bright walked over to her quickly and grabbed her shoulders, “Andrea, am I overreacting?”

“Uh… yeah… but, _why_ are you acting like this?”

“Oh… uhm… we… uh… we kissed on New-”

_**“You guys kissed!?”** _

“Shhh! Sh! Y-yes we did… and… I-... I kissed her again later… mostly by surprise… but she didn’t pull away… she just leaned into it?”

“Aww… Do you think-”

“No! No… she’s still with Glass… _though she deserves better... and I… I don’t deserve to be given another chance._ ”

“Jack, yes you do. Glass, as wonderful as he is as… Glass… he’s still Simon. Simon is the one who doesn’t deserve a second chance, especially not after what he did to her.”

“Don’t even remind me… As much as I hate Simon, I care about Glass… God, I barely was able to pull Clef off of him. I mean, Clef killed me later, but I think that was him blowing off steam and him just killing me so he wouldn’t kill Glass.”

“Have you tried… you know… reminding her of it or… trying to get her to leave him?”

“I-...I don’t want her to remember that… and… back in October, near Halloween, I think he did some bad stuff to her. She came into the lab limping and had bruises all over her arm. I told her to leave him and to not see him except for therapy… but I just made her upset… again.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?! Do you know what he did?”

“Uh… no… I think I asked, but she told me to mind my own business… maybe she’d tell you if you asked? Or- wait- don’t ask her! She’ll get mad at me for telling you.”

“You don’t know that. Plus… what if she’s suffering mentally from what happened? Maybe I can help her.”

“I… I guess… just… try to be slightly discrete?”

“Of course.”

“And! Don’t remind her too much of what happened… I don’t want her to remember everything.”

“Right… I’ll ask Dr. Bailey when the time is right.”

“Ask me what?” You stepped into Dr. Bright’s office, setting your bag down onto the couch near the door. You looked between Andrea and Bright as they looked between each other, “what?”

“Nothing dear, I’ll talk to you later, ok?” Andrea walked over and touched your arm gently. You nodded and watched her leave the office. As soon as the door clicked shut, you looked at Bright, who looked nervous, and raised your eyebrow. Silence filled the room between you two for a minute before you spoke, “ok, what’s wrong? Why are you _exuding_ so much tense and awkward energy?”

“W-what? No, I’m not…” he crossed his arms like he was talking to you with annoyance, but his face… in all honesty, looked like he was constipated.

“You’re making the face.”

“Face? What face?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re making the ‘I want to say something to you but I also don’t want you to know I want to say something’ face,” you crossed your arm now.

“I- n-no... I-...” Bright looked to the ground, eyes moving around as if he were reading something. He sighed, defeated, and glanced at you, “you’re… you’re wearing the scarf I got you…”

“Well, yeah, obviously. I like it so I’m going to wear it. Did you not want me to wear it?”

“W-What?! No! I… I’m just surprised you are… you weren’t wearing it over the weekend when I saw you.”

“Oh… right… yeah… well, it was warm for those days.”

“No, it wasn’t warm at all, Y/n. It was literally -18 degrees outside.”

“Uhm… well… I stayed inside so I was fine.”

“You’re inside right now and you’re wearing it.”

“W-Well… maybe I feel cold today.”

“Are you sick?”

“No… b-”

“Why are you lying?”

“Well, why do you care so much?”

“Because I feel like something happened and that you’re trying to avoid answering the question.”

“Well, what about you? You avoided telling me why you’re acting weird.”

“I answered you!”

“No, you asked me a question. Why are you being so weird?”

“Why are _you_ being so weird?”

You rolled your eyes, “why are you acting like a child so suddenly?”

Bright almost pouted but quickly turned away and walked to his desk, “I’m not acting like a child! God! I was just fucking worried you hated me or something! You hardly even looked at me over this whole weekend and didn’t wear the scarf. I thought I fucked everything up by kissing you that night, ok?! That’s…” he put his hands on his desk, keeping his back to you, and sighed. “That’s why I care and am acting weird.”

You blinked in surprise, you didn’t actually expect him to open up and be honest with you like that, “oh… no… I don’t hate you and you didn’t fuck anything up. I just… the kisses were a mistake…” _lier._ “We shouldn’t have kissed at all. I-I’m dating Glass and I… it’s like cheating.?” You said the last bit in a quiet questioning tone.

“Ah… that’s… ok… I guess that makes sense… I… I’m sorry for overreacting… Uhm… could I have some time alone right now? I-I’ll meet you in the lab in a bit.” Bright sounded defeated and tired. _Was he really that hurt by what I said? I mean… he should have expected it… right?_

“Uh… sure… I’ll see you there then…” You grabbed your bag and opened the door, stopping for a moment to look back at him. You and him made eye contact for a moment, which scared you for a moment since you weren’t expecting him to be looking at you. You left quickly and closed the door, heart beating like crazy. “Andrea, why is Bright acting like that?”

“Like what, dear? Himself? Or did he tell you he was worried?”

“He actually told me he was worried. He opened up.”

“You can’t be that blind, right?” Andrea turned her chair to you and crossed her arms, eyebrow raised. You felt as if you were a child getting scolded by their mother or teacher.

“What do you mean?”

“Goodness gracious… Dr. Bailey, come on. He obviously still has feelings for you, more than likely still loves you. Wait, no, he _still_ loves you.”

Your hair stood on end as you blushed bright red, “no he doesn’t!”

“Oh, please! You’re not stupid!”

“Exactly! I-If… If he loved me in the first place, he wouldn’t have erased my memories of _everything_ with him! He would have just erased whatever terrible thing happened to me! But no! He erased _**everything**_!” You could feel the anger you had tried to move past build up all over again. You took off the scarf on your neck and held it in your clenched hand, “give this back to him.” You put it onto her desk and left angrily.

“Wait!” Andrea called after you, but you just kept going. “Damn it… I guess you’re right in a way… but you don’t understand the full story…” she muttered to herself. 

~~~ _Earlier during the weekend_ ~~~

_“I see you’re wearing the scarf Dr. Bright got you,” Glass says, not looking at you but rather forward as you two walked to the cafeteria._

_“Oh, yeah, I mean… it’s pretty cold out and I like it a lot. I think it looks good on me, don’t you?”_

_Glass looked at you slightly and gave you a sweet smile, “of course it looks good on you! I mean, everything does, so…”_

_“Oh shut up, some things don’t look good on me.”_

_“Hah, that’s rich! I have to disagree. You’re a beautiful person.”_

_“Pff, alright, sure. I mean… look at me.”_

_He stopped walking and looked at you up and down, “...mhm… and?”_

_“Come on, be honest.”_

_“I am, Ms. Bailey. It doesn’t matter what you look like to me. I like you for who you are.” Glass put his hand on your head with a smile, “but you do look good in everything I’ve seen you wear.”_

_You grabbed his arm and took it off your head, returning the smile, “so, you’re saying I’m ‘dishy’?”_

_“God, I wish I never taught you that,” Glass laughed and kissed your forehead. “Come on, let’s go eat.” You chortled and walked with him to the cafeteria. “But... hey… could you not wear the scarf around me?” You frowned and opened your mouth to ask why, but he spoke before you could, “take it off. I don’t want to see it.”_

~~~

You were still angry by the time you got to the lab, but it immediately disappeared as you saw Miles standing with Iceberg, whispering to him. Iceberg looked distressed and it sounded like Miles was trying to reassure him, “uh, hey guys… uhm… What happened? Are you ok, Iceberg?”

“Oh, Dr. Bailey!” Iceberg walked over to you and hugged you, sniffling, “I’m just scared… I’ve avoided Gears for the past couple of days because of what I did on New Years’…”

“What? Why? He didn’t react negatively from what I saw.”

“I know! But… But… what if he hates me? What if he yells at me? Or is disgusted by me?”

Miles spoke up, “Ice, I doubt he would, he appreciates your work a lot. And I’m pretty sure he likes you too, so…”

You nodded and gave Miles a ‘yeah I agree’ face, “exactly, he won’t hate you or be disgusted. He’ll probably just think that you were drunk so you didn’t really ‘realize’ what you were doing.”

“But I was drunk.”

“Exactly! He’ll make his own excuse for you. Just don’t mention it to him unless he mentions it to you.”

“I...I guess… that’s what Miles said too.”

Miles nodded, “Iceberg, I did the same thing to Soren when we met… though Soren had more balls than I did and asked me out first.” As Iceberg and Miles continued talking, you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You took it out and looked to see who messaged you, it was Gears. 

_**G:** Greeting, Dr. Bailey. I do hope I am not interrupting anything, but I was curious if you knew where Dr. Iceberg is. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find him nor make contact via text. _

You message him back, “Ah, yeah… Iceberg is with me actually, we’re in the lab Dr. Bright and I work in. Is there a message you want me to pass to him or something?”

_**G:** I see, is there a reason he is there? I do not recall giving him any paperwork or samples to deliver to you… Nonetheless, I will be there promptly to get him._

_Oh… Oh no…_ You looked at Iceberg, “uh… hey… Iceberg? Uhm… Gears is coming to get you.”

Iceberg stood up fast, “he’s what? Oh fuck. I look like shit!” Iceberg looked at his reflection in the glass and fixed his hair frantically then looked at his face closely, “I don’t look like I’ve been crying, right?”

“No, you look fine… well, your eyes are a little red… but! You can just say you had something that was irritating them.”

“Is it really bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“No! It’s not terrible! As I said, you can say that there was something irritating your eyes,” you touched his shoulder gently. He was actually

“God damn it… Ugh! I just- what- fuck! I’m going to hide in the refrigerator.”

Gears’ voice came from the doorway, “why on Earth would you hide in the refrigerator?”

“Oh! Uh… hi… uhm Gears… I was just- like- visiting Dr. Bailey for a bit.”

“That did not answer the refrigerator question.” Gears sighed, “nonetheless, we have a very busy day today. We have a meeting and then I have some experiments I need your help with.”

“Ok… uh… how did- nevermind, yeah… let’s go,” Iceberg said hesitantly and walked to the door, giving you a nervous look before closing the door. You sighed and sat down, _what was the beginning of Bright and I’s relationship like? Was I that nervous? Was he like that_? God, you wished you could just _remember_ something, anything that could get this anger in you out. You forgot completely that Miles was also in the room. He cleared his throat, making you jump a little and pulling you out of your thoughts, “now you look upset too.”

“What? No, I’m ok, just frustrated,” you admit.

“That coincides with ‘upset’, you know?” Miles grabs a chair and drags it over to the table, “what’s bothering you?”

“I… just… just Dr. Bright and memories…”

“Ah, I see… he, uh, he made you forget a lot didn’t he?”

“...yeah… a lot…”

Miles looked away slightly with his eyes and gave a ‘oh sensitive subject’ face, “I may not completely understand the extent of what you’re feeling… but there are people around here that will listen.”

“Thank you, Miles… can I ask you about your first date with Soren?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine,” he blushed. “As I said earlier, I kind of did the same thing Iceberg did and Soren asked me out first. Our first date was a mess. We had no idea what to do for it, so we went to the cafeteria and sat there in silence for like ten minutes.” He laughed a little, “Soren, asked about what I did eventually and I made a sarcastic joke that I was a janitor that carries around a gun. I asked him, and you saw what he did, being a receptionist. Well… it’s been six or so years since then. Our story isn’t exciting by any means, but… if I was made to forget all that, and by him no less, I would be upset too. How you feel is valid, but what you do with those feelings is your choice. I… I don’t think I could keep being angry at Soren… I’m sure you still feel things for him, don’t you?”

You rested your head on your hand and blushed, “I guess, yeah… but I also… I’m so angry all the same..why does he think he had the right to take my memories away from me?”

“Do you know if he really thinks that?” Miles tilted his head. You leaned back and looked at the table. You never really considered if that’s how he actually feels or if he’s just wearing a mask… though he’s never said outright that he had the right to take them, not that you can remember at the moment at least. “I doubt if he has said it, that he meant it. Trying to keep something from someone you love and care about is hard. But sometimes there’s a good reason they want to keep something from you. Though it’ll all come out eventually, and that… that can be messy.”

“You sound like you're talking from experience.”

“Hah… I am,” he looked down at his legs. “I kept a secret from Soren for a long time. I thought I was doing a good thing, but it just hurt him. I lied about what I was doing or why I was on site that day when the MTF I worked in was deployed. I refused to sleep with him for months and it only hurt him more and more each day.” Miles looks at you, a sad smile on his face, “he thought I was cheating on him and confronted me about it. I broke down and told him everything.”

“...Well… what was it?”

He sighed and reached down to his right leg, pulling up his pant leg. He had a metal prosthetic leg that had flames painted on it, “ah, don’t mind the paint, Soren likes to paint on it when the previous painting starts rubbing away. But, anyway… I thought he’d leave me because of it and I was so scared that I just kept it secret.”

You stared down at his leg before shaking your head and looking at him, “why were you afraid?”

Miles gestures to his leg, “because of this.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a prosthetic.”

“Exactly what he said. I was so relieved and felt a weight lift off me. He told me he was going to paint it from then on.” He held up his hand as you were about to say something, “I know this isn’t really 1 to 1 for what you’re going through and what he’s going through… but it’s the best thing I can think of to compare. I have no idea what he’s keeping from you, but maybe he wants to tell you but is so afraid he’d lose you… again even.”

“Thanks, Miles… I really appreciate-” you were cut off when the door opened. Dr. Bright walked in and looked between you and Miles. “Dr. Bright,” you slightly nod as an acknowledgment.

“Ah… uh, why is one of the security personnel in here?” He paused and then looked worried, “did something happen? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m ok, I can handle myself.”

“R-right… uhm, Andrea told me to give this to you,” he held out the scarf, “why did you… take it off?”

You looked at Miles as he mouthed, ‘tell the truth’. You sighed, “I got upset about the stuff in the past… but I don’t want to talk about it right now.” You got up, walked over to Bright, and held your hand out. He stayed quiet and handed the scarf to you. You grabbed the scarf and tried to pull it to you, but Bright held onto it. There was only silence between you and him while both of you stared at each other.

Miles excused himself and left quickly, feeling the tension in the air. You raised an eyebrow, “are you going to let go?”

Bright didn’t blink, “no.”

“And why not?”

“Because I… I…” Bright let go and turned his head away, “nevermind. It doesn’t matter.”

“Rrright… ok, well… let's get to work then,” you put the scarf back on. You screamed internally to yourself, _just tell me! Tell me what you want to say! For fucks sake, I want to know! I want to understand things, I want to understand my memories, I want… I want to understand you_.

~~~

You knocked on the office door frame and walked in, “hey, Iceberg, you busy? I need some help with work relating to paper.” You hear a groan from Iceberg, making you laugh quietly.

“Cool, what do you have for me?” Iceberg spoke in a sarcastic playing tone.

“First of all, your office is freezing cold. Secondly, would you help me with applying a D-Class for the rehabilitation program?”

“Well, first off, this is my body temperature and second, of course, I’ll help you with that. Can I ask who and why?”

“I don't remember his number… I’ll have to look, but his name we used is Scar. I wanted to do two D-Class, but apparently, we can only apply for one D-Class rehabilitation every 5 years.”

“You are correct! Well, let’s find his number so the ‘Ethics Committee’ can decide whether or not it will be allowed. What they did for crimes is very important in the decision of reformability. So,” he stood up and walked to a filing cabinet and dug through it. “What did he do?”

“Oh, uh, that’s… that’s a long story… but I’m guessing I have to explain everything don’t I?”

“Not technically, they look at his records,” he turned back holding a thick stack of paper, “I’m just nosy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was ok! I'm hoping to update again later this month... it might be a long chapter because... well, I'll leave it at that.  
> I'm curious about your guy's opinion on including Morpheus occasionally (only when it works, of course, not going to force him into the main plot)?  
> For updates on chapter writing progress, interacting with Morpheus and V, and stupid shit I reblog; follow me on tumblr http://vxmorpheus.tumblr.com/  
> If you have wanted to draw any fanart at any point about my oc or this story, I'd love to see it! No need to ask if you can, just tag me in it so I can reblog the art!  
> Thank you for reading, criticism (not the harsh kind) and suggestions are welcome! If I'm able to reply to a comment, I will!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading! I'd love any input and advice! The parent characters and Andrea are from another fanfiction that I really enjoyed that I got permission to use! Please consider reading DunmerLover's fanfiction here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923428/chapters/44924359


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